Infinitas
by LinariteLavanya
Summary: The Null Dimension is not like the others. In this world, Duel Monsters didn't become popular, and the holographic technology that would have enhanced the game was seized by the military for reasons unknown. That wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that now the residents of another dimension are attacking them with monsters made real by Solid Vision.
1. Chapter 1: Dual Identity

**Full Summary:** The Null Dimension is not like the others. In this world, Duel Monsters didn't become popular, and the holographic technology that would have enhanced the game was seized by the military for reasons unknown. That wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that now the residents of another dimension are attacking them with monsters made real by Solid Vision, and the only ones capable of fighting back are the resistance group Infinitas, led by a young woman named Scarlett and her trusted circle of friends. But as they're sucked into an inter-dimensional war that exceeds anyone's expectations, will they find a way to protect those they cherish most? Or will they shatter under the pressure, and succumb to Academia's might?

* * *

 _A/N: Welcome, one and all, to my Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V fanfiction! Honestly, this fic just sort of jumped me from behind one day. There I was, just innocently scrolling through tumblr and tvtropes, catching up on episode recaps, when suddenly the plot bunnies ambushed me and clubbed me over the head. Terrible, vicious bunnies. ;) In all seriousness, though, the idea for this story just sort of came to me very strongly and I decided to go for it because a) why not? and b) there aren't really enough fanfiction stories for Arc-V, period. There are like, only 600? 600, that's it?! I object! XD_

 _Anyway, this first chapter is really short; it's more of an introduction to the main OC than anything; I'll be posting the next chapter immediately after posting this one, though, so you can all get a better feel for the story in general. :)_

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Dual Identity**

* * *

It was raining in Summerland City. Not quite a full thunderstorm, but stronger than the usual misting drizzle that had previously been the only rain the residents of the city were accustomed to. Summerland City had been, after all, a nice place with a temperate climate. Not too hot, not too cold, almost always sunny with a slight breeze. A few spring showers here and there, and occasionally a mild drought in the summer season, but otherwise every day that came was much like the one before.

But after the invasion, that, like so much else, had drastically changed.

A few of the more scientific types had theorized that it had something to do with ripping holes in the dimensions, that by invading this realm those Academia freaks had also destabilized the very fabric of their world, creating unusual weather patterns and other unpredictable phenomenon.

Of course, most of those scientists were now dead, carded, or missing, so there was no way to find out if there was any merit to their claims or not.

So Scarlett wondered, but didn't waste too much time worrying about the higher implications of it all. Not yet, anyway; she had too much to focus on already.

As the founding member of Infinitas, a militia-esque resistance group that fought against Academia and its soldiers, she wasn't dedicated to finding out what, exactly, was happening to their world...she was dedicated to protecting those who lived in it and kicking the asses of those who had invaded it. The big issues of why they'd come and what they wanted _were_ on her to-do list, but her top priorities revolved around things like rescuing as many people as she could and evacuating them to what few safe zones there were left, and finding enough food and other supplies to keep her fellow rebels and the refugees staying at her boarding house fed and clothed.

And every day it was getting harder. She was having to go farther to find food, having to be more careful when she snuck around, or be more fierce when she was found by Academia soldiers.

She'd needed to be extra careful in the last couple months, after the wanted posters had gone up, with a vague sketch of her and a hefty reward for whoever gave up information on the "elusive leader of Infinitas". The sketch wasn't a good one, but the coloring was right; her short red hair and her freakish red eyes.

She'd been prepared for that eventuality, though, and had taken precautions. She'd been wearing a carefully thought-out disguise since the start; a long dark wig she'd found in an abandoned thrift store, blue contact lenses she'd bartered a case of canned beans for, a handful of eyebrow pencils for darkening her eyebrows, and some baggy and faded clothing that disguised her physique and made her look like just any other invasion victim. And as that person, as Skylar, she was so different from her Scarlett persona, she doubted that anyone who wasn't already privy to her dual identities would be able to guess the truth. As Skylar, she ran the Summerland boarding house, a motel that had been abandoned by its original owners that Skylar had found and turned into a place where people who needed somewhere to stay could come for a hot meal and a roof over their heads until they could move on to something better. As Scarlett, she lead the Infinitas and fought against those who had invaded their world and wrecked their lives.

Thus far, only her immediate circle of friends knew of her hidden identity as Scarlett; Irina, Yukito, Miruna, and Giovanni...they were the only ones she trusted enough with the secret. And it may have been paranoid, but with how desperate Academia was to find her and get rid of her, she felt justified in her caution. She'd seen too many others killed or carded; she was not going to fall victim to the same fate.

And she wasn't going to let it happen to anyone else either, not if she could stop it. She couldn't save everyone, but she was damn well going to try.

* * *

 _A/N: Okay, so this chapter was really short; sorry. Like I said before, it's more of an intro for Scarlett/Skylar than anything. I mostly just wanted to set up the premise and establish the fact that Skylar and Scarlett are really the same person. It's important that I get that set in stone right away, because throughout the various chapters, the name used might bounce back and forth. Anyway, in most chapters, I'll be calling her Skylar, since that's her original birth name and Scarlett is a secondary identity she adopted when she formed Infinitas, even though her natural appearance is that of Scarlett (with the red hair). Since she's trying to keep a low profile, she'll only refer to herself as Scarlett when she's acting as Scarlett, i.e. not wearing her disguise and doing resistance stuff. Anyway, there will be some other OCs introduced in upcoming chapters, but worry not! The canon characters will be joining the story soon, some sooner than others. ;) We just need to get some Null Dimension stuff established first and whatnot. XD_

 _In any case, the next chapter be posted right away after this one is posted, so go forth and read more! I promise, the next chapter is much, MUCH longer than this one. And it has an actual Duel! :D_

 _See you around!_


	2. Chapter 2: A New Arrival

_A/N: As mentioned in the previous chapter, this installment is **much** longer than that first intro chapter. And it has a duel! Hooray! Also, a canon character makes his entrance into the storyline! Hooray again! _

_Anyway, a few things to mention before we get started: for the purposes of this story, duels will start off with 8000 LP for each player unless otherwise stated; story-wise, this is to do with the differences between the Null Dimension and the other dimensions; meta-wise, it's because I base almost all the duels in this story off of actual duels I do in my Tag Force 4 game, and LP in that typically starts off at 8000. XD On the plus side, this generally makes the duels longer, which means more action and a longer chapter, plus you can be amused in the knowledge that the duels in the story are actually, y'know, real duels and not just figments of my overactive imagination. Seriously, though, actually doing the duels make it SO much easier to keep track of everything. ;)_

 _Anyway, enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: A New Arrival**

* * *

Skylar frowned at the packet of papers on the folding TV tray that served as her desk. The lighting wasn't good since her "desk" was wedged into the shadowed corner of her small room, which was already kind of cramped from the cot she slept on, the dresser she kept her belongings in and the various stacks of boxes of random supplies scattered here and there that they couldn't fit into the storage rooms. It also didn't help that the only light in her room came from a single solitary low-watt bulb screwed into what had previously been a ceiling fan with room for three high-watt bulbs. She was lucky she could see her paperwork at all.

This exact problem was why she usually tried to sort through her papers earlier in the day, preferably in the afternoon when the sun came through her window and bathed her room in a nice natural light.

She'd been dealing with some Infinitas stuff on the other side of the city that afternoon, though, in the abandoned storage facility that served as their group's base of operations, and by the time she'd made it back to the boarding house, the sun had already been setting and she was left to do her best by the light of a very dim bulb.

"This sucks," she grumbled, rubbing at her eyes in annoyance.

She _could_ have broken out her carefully hoarded ration of candles, but she'd decided against it in the end; there was no telling when one of their generators might give out and make the candles an utter necessity.

So she squinted and cursed and pulled her papers closer to her face, determined to sort through the reports as quickly as possible so that she could get back to things she was good at, like cooking and kicking ass.

Most of the papers were just status reports from a handful of other refugee groups or resistance camps in and around the city; she received letters from most of them, all addressed to her as Skylar since none of them knew that she was actually Scarlett, leader of Infinitas. Which was probably for the best, because she was pretty sure they told Skylar things that they would never tell "Scarlett".

Scarlett was, to them, some amazing and impressive figure valiantly fighting the good fight against Academia. Someone who, according to them, couldn't be troubled with their day to day problems since she had bigger things to worry about.

Skylar, on the other hand, was the young woman running the boardinghouse, who dealt with the same things they did and who could provide them advice or furnish them with emergency supplies if they needed it; she was, as Skylar, someone they could relate to and approach with their problems.

This inevitably resulted in Skylar being pulled in about twelve different directions on any given day, and though the stress was tremendous, there was nothing she would have changed. Her duties as Scarlett were important, but so was running the boardinghouse. She couldn't do both as Skylar and that was frustrating...but necessary. She couldn't do both without being both people, and so she let herself be split in two. It would be worth it, in the end. Someday, they would oust Academia and reclaim their world. Someday.

In the meantime, she just had to soldier on and hope she wouldn't have a mental breakdown before that day came.

Two hours and half a migraine later, she was finally finished sifting through the stack of memos and briefings. _I don't understand how the world can literally be all but over and there's still so much paperwork_ , she thought irritably. Honestly, it made no sense; the only reasonable explanation she could think of was that people were still trying to hold onto some semblance of normality, and paperwork somehow helped with that. Skylar, by nature more a woman of action, didn't see the point of it, but if that's what helped keep them moderately functional and able to help with the overall survival effort in the city, she was glad enough to enable it.

Sighing, she stood up from her rickety stool, cursed again as she banged her knee into the edge of the TV tray, then sighed as she shimmied to the side and went over to the mirror above her dresser. She tugged a bit on the ends of her wig, a familiar surge of adrenaline coursing through her as she contemplated yanking it off and bounding out the door to embrace her other self.

A glance at her watch told her that it was just a bit after ten; plenty of time to get up to a little rebellious mischief before she turned in for the night. She gave a slow smile at the thought.

Tugging off her wig and carefully blinking out her contacts, she quickly changed over into her Infinitas outfit, tossing aside the baggy blue sweatshirt and jeans she'd been wearing as Skylar and trading them in for Scarlett's usual solid black ensemble. As Scarlett she needed to make more of an impression, both with her actions and her looks, and nothing said dramatic like a vibrant redhead in all black clothing.

Her Deck got a lot of attention, too, but that was another matter entirely.

Once dressed, she poked her head out of her door cautiously; she didn't _think_ there would be anyone skulking around outside her room at this time of night, but it paid to be careful. Luckily, the only person outside her door was her lavender-haired best friend Irina, who knew her secret.

"Hey," Skylar said, giving a crooked smile as she slipped out of her room and pulled the door shut behind her. "You up for some trouble?"

Irina gave a slow smile and handed her a familiar Duel Disk. "Always."

Skylar's grin widened as she took her Disk, given to Irina a couple days prior because it had needed some minor repairs, and slipped her second Deck into place. "Awesome. Let's go have some fun."

* * *

Yugo was starting to get annoyed. It was one thing for his dragon to pull him through dimensions when he _wanted_ to go. It was another thing entirely when his dragon yanked him out of his home dimension for no apparent reason and dropped him into someplace entirely foreign.

The first couple times, he'd classed it as interesting, something new and shiny and exciting. After that, he'd been so desperate to find Rin that he hadn't cared. Now, though...he was frustrated. He'd finally been gaining ground, or at least it had felt like that, only for his dragon to randomly sweep him away from the Synchro Dimension, where all his friends were no less, and pop him into a new dimension he'd never even heard of.

From what he could see, it resembled the Xyz Dimension that Yuto and Kurosaki hailed from in terms of property damage and just the general gloomy atmosphere of the place, as if this city's inhabitants were drowning in despair. From what he could see of the rundown buildings and collapsed skyscrapers through the muggy smog, it had been a beautiful city once.

He wondered what had happened to make it look like such a wasteland.

As he rode his D-Wheel down the deserted streets, he found his answer.

Academia, he realized as he saw three Academia Duelists cornering a group of three cowering teenagers. He would have assumed it to be a fair enough fight, if not for how utterly terrified the teenagers seemed; that only one of them wore a Duel Disk was also an indication that things were about to get messy if no one stepped in.

"Aw, come on now," one of the Academia Duelists was saying in a snide tone as he stepped towards the one teen with a Disk. "At least make it a challenge for us."

Gunning his engine, Yugo blasted forward. "If it's a challenge you're looking for," he shouted, "how about me?"

They turned to face him with psychotic smiles that sent chills up and down his spine. He wished, for just a moment, that Yuya and the others were here. He'd never wanted anyone but Rin at his back before, but now he missed having the support.

"What," one of the Academia warriors asked with a sneer, "is a loser from the Synchro Dimension doing here in the Null Dimension?"

"Null Dimension?" Yugo echoed. _So that's what this one is called._

"Aw, leave him be, Zenny," another of the Academia students said with a dark laugh. "He doesn't even know where he is, poor stupid bastard."

"Hey!" Yugo snapped, revving his engine. "Who are you calling an idiot?"

Zenny activated his Duel Disk. "Guess it would be you, moron. Now, let's settle this like men, shall we?"

* * *

"What the hell is that noise?" Irina asked as they picked their way through the ruins of an old shopping center.

"How the hell should I know?" Skylar griped, vaulting over a collapsed kiosk. "Sounds like a motorcycle or something."

"Can't be," Irina countered. "No one's driving anymore, remember? Not since the oil refineries in the desert blew up."

"The refineries blew up?" Skylar echoed sarcastically. "Really? I had _no_ idea, Irina, that such a thing had happened. Never mind that _I was there at the time_."

"There at the time and couldn't stop it," Irina countered, flipping her off as she ducked down and crawled through some rubble.

"Geez, guilt-trip much? Remind me why you're my friend again?" Skylar complained good-naturedly; they both know why Skylar -or Scarlett, rather- hadn't been able to stop Academia from destroying the refineries; she'd had to choose between evacuating the workers stationed there before Academia carded them, or saving the facility and letting them be sealed away. Since her first priority was always to save as many lives as possible, she'd opted to let the place burn. And burn and burn. Something to be said for fossil fuels, they were flammable like nobody's business; last she'd heard, there were still fires burning deep in the earth, feeding off pockets of stored oil and gas and whatever else was down there.

Irina just gave a grim smile as she clambered up and rejoined Skylar. "You love me and you know it."

Skylar made a noncommittal sound. "I don't know," she said lightly. " Maybe I should get a puppy instead. At least then I'd get some sort of unconditional love or something. Maybe even a cuddle or two."

Irina made a pained noise. "Please stop talking," she pleaded, exasperation threading through her voice. "Before I club you upside the head with the next piece of sizable debris I come across." Then she scowled again. "Seriously, though," she went on, swiveling her head around, "what is that _noise_?"

"Sounds like a motorcycle," Skylar said again, rolling her eyes.

"But no one's driving anymore!" Irina snapped, flailing her arms around. "So it can't be a motorcycle!"

"Well," she replied reasonably, "let's go see what it is, then."

Irina wrinkled her nose. "I thought our plan was to hit that Academia storehouse by the Yoldina overpass."

"That _was_ our plan, yes," Skylar acknowledged. "But since you want _so_ badly to find out what that freaking sound is, we're going to go investigate _that_ first." And she had to admit, she was more than a little curious, too. She could just barely glimpse odd flashes of light over the tops of the buildings to accompany the vroom-vroom sounds, and if she didn't know better she'd have guessed that some sort of Duel was taking place. There wasn't supposed to be anyone other than Academia patrols in this area right now though, and they wouldn't be Dueling each other.

Irina huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "We should stay on mission."

"Says the one who won't shut up about the stupid motorcycle noises."

"It can't be a motorcycle," Irina repeated stubbornly.

Skylar heaved a massive sigh. "And so I say: Let's go have a look."

Irina argued a little more, but gave up in the end; she knew better than to argue with Skylar once she was set on something. Besides, it was mostly her own fault in the first place, for pointing out the unusual sounds coming from a couple blocks over.

What they saw as they crept to a viewpoint under a fallen billboard shocked them.

"It _is_ a motorcycle," Skylar crowed, her voice barely above a whisper but still full to bursting with satisfaction.

Irina, meanwhile, was too dumbfounded by what she was seeing to even bother smacking her friend and leader upside the head. "With a Duel Disk built in," she observed weakly. "What the _hell_?"

"Think it's new Academia tech?" Skyar asked, excitement dimming with the thought of more advantages their enemies would have over them. It was bad enough with that Solid Vision crap and how much more experienced they all were with Dueling.

Since this dimension, called the Null Dimension by Academia, had never developed Duel Monsters or holographic technology the way the other dimensions had, they had been woefully under-prepared for Academia's assault. The first few attacks waves had met with virtually no resistance, and it was only after a few Null residents had stolen some Duel Disks from Academia soldiers that the odds have improved, even if just by a miniscule margin.

And that wasn't even counting how hard to was to find the cards she'd needed, especially after the purge Academia had done to rid the Null Dimension of the cards they viewed as potential threats.

Shaking her head, Skylar banished her thoughts and re-focused on the bizarre Duel taking place in the street below. She tuned back in just in time to see the leader of the Academia trio summon a great big hulking monster and use it to attack the stranger on the odd motorcycle, sending him flying through the air to crash into a derelict electronics store.

"That was such an underhanded move!" Irina exclaimed, her voice low but outraged.

"Academia," was all Skylar said in response, but it was all that needed to be said. The enemy fought dirty and had no mercy; their collective lack of moral fiber was yet another reason why Skylar so thoroughly enjoyed wrecking their plans as often as she could.

It was only once the dust from the crash had cleared somehow that she was able to see what the fight itself must have started over. And once she did see, she was bolting out from their hiding spot and charging down towards the street, no longer content to watch and see what happened. "Shit! Irina, those three hiding behind the wreckage; they're ours!"

Irina shouted a question, then cursed as she saw what Skylar had finally seen: the three terrified teenagers crouching down and trying to hide; Skylar couldn't remember their names right then, but she vaguely recalled them coming to the boardinghouse with a refugee group the previous week; they were, she was pretty sure, three brothers.

"What's our play?" Irina asked as she caught up to Skylar's sprint, panting but keeping pace.

"You get those three idiots and take them back to their father at the boarding house," Skylar said, "and I'll go rescue our mystery motorcycle guest."

"Be careful," was all Irina said, tracing an infinity symbol in the air as their customary salute.

Skylar mimicked the motion before giving a sharp smile. "I'm always careful," she lied, making sure her Disk was ready to go and breaking away from Irina's trajectory to instead make a beeline straight to where the three Academia soldiers were approaching the guy who'd crashed his bizarre Dueling contraption.

"Hey, assholes!" she shouted as she skidded down the side of the rubble heap and skidded to a halt in the middle of the street. "How about picking on someone your own size?"

They whirled around, their intended prey forgotten as they took in her appearance, their faces going from startled to wary to enraged so quickly it was _almost_ amusing.

"Scarlett?!" the leader demanded, eyes fixing on her short crimson hair as his mouth turned down into a grimace.

She gave a taunting smirk. "The one and only," she replied, lifting her right arm so he could see the infinity symbol tattooed on the back of her hand; it was the symbol of Infinitas and as such all members generally wore something with the symbol on it while on duty, but she was the only one who had gotten it inked permanently onto not just one hand but both. Like her hair and her Deck, the tattoos were an identifying characteristic, something that could leave no doubt in anyone's mind that she was who she claimed to be. "Now," she went on, her smile dropping away as her voice turned more severe, "step away from the bike guy and _maybe_ I'll go easy on you."

The Academia trio snickered to themselves.

"Please," the leader of the group said. "Like you could actually stop us. Don't you know who we are?"

"I know exactly who you are," Skylar replied icily. "But I'm starting to feel like you don't quite understand who I am." She angled her arm up and activated her Duel Disk. "So why don't I give you your first and last lesson for who not to mess with in this city."

"Go on, Zenny," one of the other Academia goons said, nudging his leader in the side. "Show her what real students of Academia are capable of. Give her a good thrashing."

Zenny eyed her speculatively before giving a slow smile. "Sure," he said at last. "Why not. You ready for some _fun_ , little girl?"

"My name," she said calmly, "is Scarlett. And yeah; let's get this party started. 8000 LP to start, just so that the good times keep on rolling."

"Fine," Zenny said with a sneer. "I'll even let you go first as a handicap."

Skylar snorted. "So nice of you," she drawled.

"Duel!" they both shouted.

 _ **Scarlett vs. Zenny**_

 **[8000]-[8000]**

"My move," Skylar declared, drawing a card and adding it to her hand. "I'll place three cards facedown on the field," she said, "and summon Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior [1850/1300] in attack mode!"

"So it's true, then," Zenny said, curling his lip. "You _do_ use a Lightsworn Deck."

"I do," she confirmed, giving him a shit-eating grin. "You got a problem with that?" she asked, knowing full well that he almost certainly did.

Academia had gone to great lengths to purge as many Lightsworn cards from existence as possible when they'd invaded the Null Dimension, deeming those cards and a few other archetypes too much of a threat to ignore due to how easy it was for even inexperienced duelists to pick up on the mechanics of such decks and use them effectively against the Academia invaders; the same characteristics that had annoyed people prior to the invasion, when an influx of those archetypes had frustrated those in the gaming community, were now what had their enemies hunting down the cards and those who used them. A lot of people had mysteriously vanished along with their decks or been outright killed for having what Academia deemed "dangerous" cards. Because of that, almost no one used Lightsworn cards anymore, certainly not openly.

No one but Scarlett, of course. She took immense pride in her Lightsworn Deck; using it _meant_ something, both to her and to those she was fighting for. _Screw you and the horse you rode in on_ , it said to Academia. _I'll use whatever Deck I want._

She used a different deck as Skylar-who-ran-a-boarding-house, of course, because that Skylar would never do something so blatantly reckless as using cards people had literally been killed over. That Skylar was usually easy-going and subdued and didn't draw attention to herself.

As Scarlett, though? She relished in drawing attention and wreaking havoc on Academia goons with her "forbidden" cards. Winning with them was harder now, because a lot of the more impressive cards of the archetype had been destroyed with only a handful of them left in the world, but that made winning twice as satisfying, because it showed that for all their efforts, Academia couldn't do jackshit to keep them down, not really.

"Well, so what if you do," Zenny snapped, eyes flashing angrily. "You can't attack on your first turn anyway, and once I beat you I'll deal with those stupid cards properly."

"Touch my Deck," she said evenly, "and I will kill you." She gave a razor-sharp smile. "I end my turn."

"I draw," Zenny said, sneering at her threat as if he didn't believe her.

Well, more stupid to him, then; she knew what she'd do, and that would have to be enough.

"I'll start by activating the Field Spell Light Barrier," he said, placing it on his Disk.

Skylar couldn't help it, she groaned. "Oh, good grief," she said. "You run an Arcana Deck?" She shook her head. "You realize that that's even more luck-based than a Lightsworn Deck, right?"

"Shut up," he snapped. "I'll also place one monster face down in defense mode and one more card face-down."

"Good for you," she interrupted. "I activate my Trap Card, Light Spiral."

Zenny cursed. "You've got to be joking."

"Sorry, but no," she said with a smirk. "Each time a card is sent from my Deck to the Graveyard by the effect of a Lightsworn monster, the top card of _your_ Deck will be removed from play."

"I end my turn," Zenny grumbled, glaring at her.

"My turn," Skylar replied. "I draw."

"I activate _my_ Trap Card," Zenny interrupted. "Lucky Chance. If a coin toss occurs due to a monster effect and I call it right, I get to draw one card."

"That's nice," Skylar said pleasantly. "I doubt it'll help you when you're on the ground crying for someone to save you, but still, good job."

Zenny said something that made her wish for ear bleach.

"Right back at you, pal," she said, making a face. "Now, if you don't mind, it's still my turn and I intend to make it a good one." She glanced at her hand and smiled. "I sacrifice my Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior to tribute summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel [2300/200]. Next, Celestia's effect comes into play; since I sacrificed a Lightsworn monster to summon her, I can destroy two cards that you have on the field. I select," she said pointing to them, "your face-down monster and your Light Barrier Field Spell."

"Dammit," Zenny growled.

"Not done yet," Skylar said cheerfully. "Celestia, attack him directly!"

Zenny braced himself but still got sent stumbling backwards from the attack as his LP dropped down to 5700. "That the best you can do?" he panted as he struggled to catch his breath and straighten up.

"I'm barely getting started," she informed him, setting one more card on her Disk. "I'll play one more card face-down, and end my turn."

"My turn, then." Zenny took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then drew his next card. He let out a triumphant shout and smacked the card down onto his Disk. "I activate Monster Reborn-"

"Of course you do," Skylar said with a sigh.

"-to bring back your Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior!"

 _Wait, what?_ "Hang on a minute now," she said hotly. "You keep your hands off my cards!"

"Too late," he said smugly as her monster returned to play on _his_ side of the field. "I'll place Garoth in defense mode for now, then I'll place two more cards face-down, one monster and one magic, and end my turn."

"I draw, and summon Ehren, Lightsworn Monk" Skylar said immediately. "And use her to attack Garoth; thanks to her effect, when she attacks a monster that's in defense mode, that card is removed from the field and returned to the _original_ owner's Deck."

Zenny sputtered. "What? Impossible!"

"I warned you," she reminded him, catching her card as it flew back to her and shuffling it back into her Deck. "Keep your hands off my cards. Consider this your warning shot; next time I won't be so nice about it. Next," she went on, "I'll attack your other face-down monster with Celestia."

Zenny winced as his last line of defense got obliterated. "You still didn't do any damage to me on this turn," he gloated.

"I can fix that," she said brightly. "By activating my face-down Trap Card, Solar Ray. It causes you 600 points of damage for every Light attribute monster I have on the field; I have two so that's...hmm, 1200 points, isn't it?"

Zenny cringed as his LP dropped down from 5700 to 4500. "You're still not going to win!"

Skylar arched an eyebrow. "We'll see," she said."I end my turn. Because of Ehren's second effect," she added, "I send the top three cards from my Deck to the Graveyard. Thanks to Light Spiral," she added, "the top card from your Deck gets removed from play because of it."

"Bitch," Zenny snarled, drawing a card after discarding the first one. "My move."

Skylar just smiled. This duel was going to be over very, very soon. She could feel it in her bones, in the sizzle of the air around her, and in the way her hands tingled as she held her cards.

"I place one monster face-down in defense mode," Zenny said at last, looking unhappy with his position, "and end my turn."

 _And here we are_ , Skylar thought, _coming up on the end of it_. "I draw," she said, "and summon Sunny Pixie [300/400] in attack mode."

Zenny actually snorted. "A Pixie?" he said disdainfully. "Are you trying to be cute?"

"You keep on laughing," Skylar said evenly, "and I'll keep on kicking your ass."

He stopped laughing at that, he expression turning back down into a scowl.

"I'll start by having Ehren attack your face-down monster," she went on, "and thanks to her effect, that card is returned to your Deck. Leaving you wide open for some direct attacks," she added, giving a smile tinged with wildness. "Sunny Pixie, Celestia, attack him directly!"

Zenny was sent crashing to his knees as both attacks hit, the effect of the Solid Vision technology readily apparent. He was left gasping for breath as his LP rolled down first to 4200 and then down further to 1900.

 _Almost there_ , Skylar thought, grimly satisfied. "I end my turn."

Zenny swallowed hard as he took his turn, the look of horror on his face almost comical as he finally realized that he was going to lose and couldn't do anything to stop it. "I place one monster face-down in defense mode," he said yet again, "and end my turn."

"I attack your defensive monster with Ehren," Skylar replied, "and that card is returned to your Deck. Now, Celestia," she finished, thrusting out a hand. "Finish him off with a direct attack!"

Zenny shouted and cursed as he was sent hurtling backwards and his LP dropped all the way down to nothing.

Skylar gave a triumphant smile as the final score popped up on her Duel Disk's display.

 _ **Scarlett vs. Zenny**_

 _ **[8000]-[0]**_

"I didn't even break a sweat," she informed her enemies, tone scathing. "If you're trying to bore me to death, though, by all means, carry on."

Zenny struggled to his feet. "Get her!" he snarled at his companions.

They took a few hesitant steps forward only to halt in place at the frosty look on Skylar's -Scarlett's- face.

"I really wouldn't," she said warningly. "Seriously, boys, this is me being _nice_. You don't want to see me being nasty. And if you leave now," she added, "you won't have to."

"What are you waiting for?" Zenny demanded, face a mask of fury. " _Get her!_ "

"Don't," she countered, returning her cards to her Deck and shuffling it. "Unless you want to get thrashed like your boss there."

Both remaining goons gulped audibly, before turning around and booking it down the street.

"You cowards!" Zenny hollered. "Get your asses back here right now!"

"Oh, shut the hell up already," Skylar said with an annoyed sigh, snatching up a piece of charred wood and lightly chucking it at him.

It clipped him on the temple, knocking him out and sending him crumpling to the ground in a heap. She, with not a lot of care, checked to make sure that she hadn't killed him by accident before making her way over to the bizarre motorcycle contraption and its rider, who had somehow remained unconscious throughout the entire Duel.

Skylar knelt down by the strange motorcyle-riding Duelist and carefully flipped him over, checking for injuries. She couldn't be entirely sure, Miruna was more skilled at medic-work than Skylar was, but she was pretty sure that his ribs were badly bruised at the very least, if not cracked or broken; his right wrist also looked a little messed up and would probably need to be splinted and wrapped. And the visor of his helmet was badly cracked, implying that he'd hit his head pretty damn hard when he'd crashed; he more than likely had a concussion on top of everything else.

"Well," she said aloud to no one in particular, "this little reconnaissance trip of mine turned into quite the little adventure."

* * *

 _A/N: So, yeah, that stuff happened. XD_

 _Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. And I hope no one is irritated by Scarlett's Lightsworn Deck. I know the LS archetype is kind of unpopular at the moment because no one likes getting spammed by Judgment Dragon and whatnot, and so many people are playing LS decks now because of the Realm of Light Structure Deck that was released or whatever...honestly, though, I think that the Lightsworn Archetype is pretty dang nifty, so...Scarlett uses one. I've put a more realistic spin on it, though, with her not having some of the more game-breaking cards; she only has one copy of Judgment Dragon, for example, and nearly died to get it, along with a few others things to even the playing field a bit. I can't go into too much detail now because explaining how this situation came to be is going to be an ongoing thing that crops up here and there throughout the story, but just trust me when I say that I do have a plan. ;D_

 _Also, if the Lightsworn Archetype just isn't your thing and you're not interested in seeing Duels involving it, worry not! Skylar uses a different Deck when she's not on resistance business, and we'll also be seeing plenty of other Duels involving other characters, including Irina in an upcoming chapter and a couple other characters who have been mentioned but not properly introduced yet. ;) And the canon characters will have some Duels too, of course, once I have more time to study their Decks and stuff. XD_

 _On a side note, Zenny in this chapter is somewhat based upon Zenny from the Tag Force 4 game. Like, not the character (who is a small child in a vest, I think), but his Deck is the same as the Deck of that Zenny. Nifty, yes? XD_

 _Anyway, thanks for reading, and see you next time! :D_


	3. Chapter 3: Discontent

_A/N: Welcome back! Not many people reading this story yet, but that's okay; the fandom's still pretty small, right? ;D Anyway, thanks to those of you who are reading this! Hopefully you're enjoying it so far. :) Extra thanks to HereICome, for leaving a review. :D_

 _Also, if anyone's interested, I've made a fanvid trailer for this story; you can find it on my tumblr, yuzukimist; t_ _he blog itself is called Moonlit Ramblings, if that helps at all. ;)_

 _This chapter involves some more back and forth with Skylar and Irina (they really are best friends I swear, they just bicker a lot XD), some more of Yugo, although I think he's totally unconscious for the entire chapter, and even some more Dueling! And it's a Duel that involves seeing Skylar's other Deck! Hooray!_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Discontent**

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Irina asked, casting an unhappy look towards the figure in the bed.

"He's hurt and needs a place to recuperate," Skylar replied, fidgeting with her wig to make sure it was on straight.

"But what if he's a spy or something?"

"I doubt they nearly killed this guy just so he could infiltrate us," she replied dryly. "There are much better ways of planting a mole."

"I don't know," Irina said dubiously. "It seems like just the sort of crapsack tactic Academia would use."

Syklar rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the itching under her lids where one of her contact lenses hadn't settled into place yet. "I guess we'll have to disagree on that point, then. Now," she went on, "can you please stop bitching and help me get this stupid helmet off of him so we can check for head injuries?"

Irina made a face but obeyed, coming over and fussing with the jammed released button on the side of the mystery duelist's helmet. "Good grief," she said in exasperation as she yanked at the helmet in an attempt to remove it. "What did he do, superglue it to his head?"

"Careful," Skylar hissed, swatting at Irina's hands. "He's already injured, don't make it worse!"

"You're the one whining about needing to get the helmet off," Irina retorted, bending closer to peer at the helmet more intently. "I think the crash damaged the release mechanism," she said at last. "We need to break it at the seam and pull it off that way."

"Oh, wonderful," Skylar said sarcastically. "Because it's just not enough that we left his expensive-looking Dueling bike in a bad part of town where any scavenger with half a brain can steal it, now we need to wreck the rest of his shit, too. Fantastic."

"First of all," Irina said, "there are no good parts of town anymore and you well know it. Secondly," she added, wagging a finger at Skylar in a vaguely scolding manner, "leaving the bike behind was a _you_ thing not a _we_ thing."

"Well excuse me for being unable to carry both an unconscious man and a motorcycle across the city by myself!"

Irina snorted. "At least you remembered to grab his Deck," she noted, giving a wry smile. "Now hurry up and find me a screwdriver so I can dismantle this damn thing."

Skylar did as asked, rummaging around in a nearby box of odds and ends before turning up a chipped by functional screwdriver. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Irina said absently, and went to work on the helmet while Skylar kept an eye on their patient to make sure he was still breathing while Irina tinkered on his headgear.

"There," Irina said a few minutes later, setting the screwdriver aside and reaching to pull apart the helmet. "Now let's have a look at our mystery guest."

Skylar drifted closer as Irina removed the helmet, then staggered backwards in shock. "What the hell?" she blurted.

"He looks an awful lot like Yukito," Irina observed weakly, naming her cousin Miruna's dueling partner and sort-of boyfriend.

"Yeah," was all Skylar could manage to say in response, her heart pounding in her chest as she leaned closer to get a better look at the young man on the bed.

He really _did_ look like Yukito; ignoring the style and colors of his hair, he was almost an exact match for their friend, albeit probably a little younger.

"I think it's time we got a message to your cousin to see if she can come back," Skylar said at last, after she'd had a moment to get over seeing what must have been one of those "dimensional counterparts" she'd heard of; she didn't know much about it, but Academia had showed an unusual and disturbing amount of interest in both Yukito and Miruna, who both evidently had counterparts in the other dimensions as well. All in all, it was enough to twist Skylar's brain into a very confused pretzel, so she'd previously done her best to not think about it; Yukito was Yukito and Miruna was Miruna, and if there happened to be some doppelgangers of them in alternate dimensions, who the hell cared.

Apparently, though, it was time to start caring, if said doppelgangers were now here in _their_ dimension.

"I'll try and get word to her," Irina replied, looking worried, "but I haven't heard from her since she went with Yuki to investigate those labor camps."

"Just do your best," Skylar said, sighing. "If we don't hear anything from them in another couple weeks, I'll go find them myself, but for now-"

"Miss Skylar!" someone shouted from outside in the hallway. "Miss Skylar, we need you!"

Irina gave a low exasperated groan. "What now?"

Skylar shrugged helplessly and opened the door to find a panting red-faced teenager in the hall; he looked to be around fifteen or so. "What's up?" she asked.

"You have to come," the younger kid said, grabbing onto her shoulders frantically. "You have to!"

Skylar gently but firmly slipped out of his grip; she was young herself but she _was_ in charge and couldn't just let people she didn't know start manhandling her. "Tell me what's wrong."

"There's this guy, he's causing all sorts of trouble! He got a bunch of others together and he's saying all sorts of crazy stuff! That we need to fight back more against Academia...and he's saying that if we laid a trap here and ambushed them all together we could-"

"He _**what?!**_ "

The messenger flinched, clearly not used to the severity of her tone. "He wants us to fight," he said meekly. "And bring the fight here."

"Irina," Skylar said to her friend, "assign someone to be on bed-watch for the bike guy in case he wakes up. You," she searched her memories for a name, "Jeremy, right?"

He nodded.

"Take me to this troublemaker and his friends. I'd like to have a little chat with them."

Irina snorted, clearly interpreting _have a little chat_ as _give them an ass-kicking_. "I'll come join you in a second."

Skylar nodded her assent and then strode from the room close on the heels of Jeremy, grabbing her Duel Disk and Deck belt almost as an afterthought.

Jeremy led her to where the trouble maker and his circle of friends had gathered together and started shooting off their mouths to others; their little meeting turned out to be in one of the old recreation rooms, which had been re-purposed as a dining hall of sorts.

"What the hell," she demanded as she went into the room, not even bothering to start off gentle,"is going on here?"

Silence fell, and as the leader of the group turned to see who had interrupted his latest rant of vengeance and ambush attacks, it was with equal parts surprise and annoyance that she realized that he was one of the three teenagers that she, as Scarlett, had rescued the night before with Irina.

 _I guess it is true what they say_ , she thought irritably, _no good deed goes unpunished._

The teenager -named Harold, she finally remembered- just looked at her with an angry sneer, not recognizing her as the woman who'd saved his life. "We're talking about _doing_ something," he said. "About being something other than sniveling cowards hiding away in an old motel."

She probably should have handled it more diplomatically; if she wasn't tired and annoyed and worried about an idiot endangering the sanctuary she'd built, she would have put in the effort to do so. As it was, though, she was all kinds of pissed and not willing to hide it. Maybe it was time the newer residents here finally got a taste of Skylar's sterner side.

"Is that what you were up to last night when you were almost killed or carded by the enemy?" she asked icily. "Just _doing something_?"

His eyes widened as his friends began muttering behind him. "How did you-"

"Know?" She curled her lip at him. "I run this boardinghouse, asshat, and while my normally easy-going nature might have given you a different impression, I assure you that I take that responsibility _very_ seriously. Irina," she went on, "informed me of what happened with you and your brothers last night as soon as she got back. What exactly," she asked sharply, "would you have done if she and Scarlett hadn't gotten there in time? If those guys had killed that other duelist and moved on to you and your brothers? Hm? Because from what I heard, you weren't much more than a sniveling coward yourself."

Harold's jaw dropped and he looked thoroughly aghast at the dressing down she was giving him; the others in the room, most of them recent additions to the boardinghouse, looked equally shocked, since they hadn't been around long enough to see how fierce she could be when the boarding house was threatened.

And maybe her words _were_ harsh. But she wasn't going to pull any punches, not with this. This boarding house was a sanctuary; she wasn't going to let some arrogant kid who didn't understand anything mess that up in some idiotic attempt to prove how macho he was

"You're assigned to trash duty for the next month," she informed him. "And I better not catch you slacking, or-"

"You can't do that!" Harold objected angrily.

She arched an eyebrow. "Pretty sure I can. This is _my_ place, or have you forgotten already who puts food in your belly and clothes on your back? Who took in you, your father, _and_ your two brothers without _any_ questions when others might have turned you away?" She shook her head. "If you want to leave, fine. Leave. But don't you _dare_ go concocting some cockamamie scheme to lure Academia soldiers _here_ for a showdown; there are _innocents_ here! How selfish are you," she demanded, "that you'd endanger _their_ lives, just to prove how tough you are?"

"Easy for you to say," Harold snapped. "I've never even seen _you_ fight _anyone_. You barely even raise your voice half the freaking time! For all we know, you can't even Duel worth shit!"

A couple of the people in the crowd, residents in the boarding house for longer, actually physically stepped away from him at that; clearly, they knew better.

"I'd take that back, man," one of them said.

But Harold just scoffed, and jabbed one hand forward to point at Skylar. "Duel me," he said, eyes flashing angrily. "Duel me, and we'll see which one of us is tougher!"

"You," she told him with a heavy sigh, "are a complete and utter moron."

"Are you declining the challenge?" he demanded.

"Not at all," Skylar said tiredly. "Just stating a fact." She slipped her first Deck into her Duel Disk and activated it. "Why don't you go first," she offered. "You need it more."

"Screw you!" Harold snapped. "I don't need a handicap! _You_ go first."

She just shrugged. "Have it your way, then."

"Duel!" they both called out.

 **Skylar vs. Harold**

 **[8000]-[8000]**

"I'll start off by setting two cards face-down," she said after drawing her first card. "Then I'll summon Naturia Guardian [1600/400] in attack mode. Next, I'll activate the Field Spell Gaia Power, which increases the ATK of all Earth monsters by 500 points while decreasing their DEF by 400 points; this brings Naturia Guardian's stats to 2100 ATK and 0 DEF. Since I can't attack on the first turn," she finished, "I'll end my turn."

"My move," Harold said, drawing a card. "I'll begin by activating Mystical Space Typhoon and destroying your Field Spell!"

"Okay," Skylar said easily as the holographic forest surrounding them exploded. She could have negated the move with the Pollinosis Trap Card she'd set on her turn, but that would have meant sacrificing her Guardian, and there was no reason to do that just over a Field Spell.

"Next," Harold said, "I'll place one monster face-down in defense mode and set one more card face-down as well. I end my turn."

"I draw," Skylar said, "and summon Naturia Cosmos Beet [1000/700] to the field in attack mode. Then," she went on, a slight smile turning up the corners of her mouth, "I'll tune Naturia Cosmos Beet to Naturia Guardian to Synchro Summon Naturia Balkion [2500/1800] to the field!"

"Ah, shit," Harold said.

Skylar's smile widened as her dragon descended and settled around her. "Balkion," she said, "be a dear and attack his face-down monster for me, will you? Nature's Pulse!"

Balkion obeyed, letting loose a blasting beam of energy that obliterated the defense position monster.

"I activate UFO Turtle's effect," Harold said. "When UFO Turtle is destroyed, I can summon a Fire monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck." He chewed on his lip before continuing. "I choose Command Knight [1200/1900], whose ATK goes up for every Warrior monster on my side of the field; that brings his ATK up to 1600."

"That's nice," Skylar said pleasantly. "I end my turn."

"I draw," Harold said, "and summon another UFO Turtle [1400/1200] in attack mode. Then I'll throw down two more face-downs, switch Command Knight to defense mode, and end my turn."

"My move," Skylar said, drawing a card. "I'll start by summoning Naturia Flightfly in attack mode; thanks to his effect, all monsters under your control lose 300 points of ATK and DEF for every Naturia monster I have face-up on the field; that knocks your Turtle down to [800/600] and your Command Knight to [1000/1300]."

"So what," Harold snapped. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Sure it does," she replied cheerfully. "Means this next attack will hurt more. Naturia Balkion, attack his UFO Turtle!"

Harold flinched as his LP went down to 6300. "I activate UFO Turtle's effect," he countered, "which lets me summon-"

"A Fire monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck," Skylar finished. "Yep, heard you when I destroyed the first one."

"I choose another Command Knight," Harold said with a scowl, and placed the second Knight on his field.

"I end my turn," Skylar said.

"My move," he said, drawing card. "I'll start by switching my original Command Knight into attack mode; thanks to the effects of both Command Knights, their attack points go up to 2000 each. Now, Command Knight, attack her Naturia Flightfly!"

Skylar gritted her teeth as her Flightfly was destroyed and her LP got knocked down to 7400. "Nice move," she acknowledged grudgingly.

"I know," he said smugly. "To finish I'll put my second Command Knight into defense position. Then I end my turn."

Baffled by why he would bother moving two identical monsters back and forth between attack and defense position, she shook her head and drew her next card. "I summon Naturia Dragonfly [1200/400] in attack mode," she said. "Naturia Dragonfly's attack goes up by 200 for every Naturia monster in my Graveyrad, raising his ATK to 1800."

"Still not enough to take down either of my Knights," Harold gloated. "And with two Command Knights on the field, their effects mean that they can't be selected as attack targets!"

"I'm aware," Skylar said mildly. "I end my turn."

"I draw," Harold said, and did so. "And summon Mataza the Zapper [1200/800] in attack mode; thanks to the effects of my two Command Knights, his ATK goes up to 2000! Next, I'll have all three of my monster attack your Naturia Dragonfly. It can't be destroyed by battle, but you'll still take damage from the difference in attack points!"

Skylar clenched her hands into fists as attack after attack after attack came, rolling her LP down to 6400.

"I end my turn," Harold said, smirking.

"My move," Skylar said, drawing. "I'll summon one monster face-down, and move Naturia Dragonfly to defense mode as well. And end my turn."

"My move," Harold said. "I summon Ehren, Lightsworn Monk!"

Skylar nearly dropped her hand of cards in shock. "What's an asshat like you doing with Lightsworn cards?" she demanded, trying to not sound too aggravated by it.

He just shrugged. "I smuggled a few out of an old game shop back before things really went to hell."

"Meaning you stole them," she said disapprovingly.

"Whatever," Harold said, waving a hand dismissively. "Ehren, attack her Dragonfly; thanks to Ehren's effect, your Dragonfly-"

"Returns to my Deck, I know."

Harold scowled at her, but continued on with his turn. "Next," he said, "I'll activate Magic Swap; each player selects one monsters of theirs and we switch control of those monsters. I choose Ehren for mine."

"I activate the Scapegoat Spell Card," Skylar said, and grinned as four little colorful sheep popped up on her side of the field, "and I pick the pink one for you to take control of."

Harold cursed. "I wanted your Balkion," he complained.

"Too bad," she said without sympathy. "He stays with me."

"I end my turn," Harold said.

"I draw," Skylar said, "and attack your Mataza the Zapper with my Balkion!"

"I activate Skrink!" Harold declared. "It drops your monster's attack down; now it's no longer strong enough to beat my Mataza, and is destroyed!"

"I end my turn," Skylar said as her monster was destroyed and her LP dropped by the new difference in attack points between their monsters.

"I draw," Harold said, grinning triumphantly, "and equip Mataza the Zapper with the spell card United We Stand, which brings his ATK up to 4500! Next, I'll wipe our your Ehren _and_ your stupid little scapegoats, bringing your LP down to 2650!"

Skylar gasped and braced herself as the Solid Vision slammed attack after attack into her and her monsters, until finally she was left standing on her own. _Serves me right_ , she thought irritably, _for holding back against this asshat._

"I end my turn," Harold said smugly.

Summoning every ounce of her belief in her Naturia Deck, she drew her next card. And smiled. "I'll set one card facedown and summon one monster in face-down defense mode, then end my turn."

"That's it?" Harold asked scornfully. "No last-ditch efforts to win, or desperate pleas for mercy?"

"I think you've gotten our positions confused," she said smoothly. "Make your move."

"Fine. I will." He drew his next card. "I'll attack your face-down monster with Mataza the Zapper!"

"I activate my Trap Card," Skylar announced. "Mirror Force! It destroys all attack position monster you have on the field!"

"Nice try," Harold said smugly, "but I activate Royal Decree; it negates the effects of all other Traps on the field!"

"Then I'll also activate Pollinosis!" she countered. "By Tributing one Plant-type monster, I can negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card and destroy it; I sacrifice my face-down Naturia Guardian, and choose your Royal Decree! Which means," she added triumphantly, "that Mirror Force still goes into effect and wipes out all your monsters!"

Harold cursed nastily as his monsters were destroyed and removed from the field. "I end my turn," he said.

"My move," she said, drawing. "I'll play a monster in face-down defense mode, and end my turn."

"That's it?" Harold asked, looking flabbergasted. "You just wiped out my entire attack force, and you're not even going to attack?"

"Make your move," she said flatly.

"Fine. I summon Marauding Captain [1200/400] in attack mode. Captain, attack her face-down monster!"

"Sorry," Skylar said, "but his attack doesn't quite match up to my Prickle Fairy's defense of 2000."

Harold hissed in pain as his attack rebounded and dropped his LP down to 5500. "This isn't over yet," he said angrily. "Not by a long shot."

"I agree," Skylar said. "So make your next move and we'll see which one of us is really-"

"Skylar!" Irina called out as she came charging into the room. "We've got a problem!"

Skylar, seeing the alarmed look on her rarely distressed friend's face, deactivated her Duel Disk immediately. "We'll finish this another time," she said to Harold.

"Hey, wait a second!" the teenager said hotly. "We'll finish it now, or else-"

"Shut up," Irina said sharply, whirling on him with a fierce expression. "You're lucky she hasn't already thrashed you, you little punk. Now run off to your room like a good little boy and let the adults get some work done!"

Skylar snickered a bit to herself at the last remark; little did anyone know, she and her friends were hardly any older than some of the teenagers they looked after. Still, the sentiment was the same. "Go look after your father and brothers," she said to Harold. "I promise, we'll duel again soon."

Harold looked like he might continue to argue, but then he finally seemed to pick up on the tension radiating off of Irina. "Okay," he said at last, looking reluctant. "A raincheck on it, then. And when we duel again," he added, "I _will_ beat you!"

Skylar just gave a faint smile and waved him away. "I look forward to our rematch," she said, actually sort of meaning it, then turned back to Irina. "What's wrong _now_?"

"I just got word from Tamara," her friend said in a low voice, leaning close so that she wouldn't be overheard as they discussed Infinitas business. "She says one of her scouts saw some more guys show up out of nowhere; she couldn't be sure from the reports, but it sounded like they used inter-dimensional travel tech to get here," she added darkly. "Also," she added almost as an afterthought, "something in the laundry room is on fire."

"What the hell," Skylar asked in exasperation, "is wrong with this day?!"

* * *

 _A/N: Okay, well, how was it Good, bad, so-so?_

 _Oh, I do need to comment on one thing, which is one of the monsters Skylar uses, Naturia Flightfly. So, I do know that it is apparently called Naturia Fruitfly in English now...but in Tag Force 4 (which I use to work out most of the Duels) it's called Flightfly, and it's also called Flightfly in the original Japanese, so I'm going to stick with calling it Naturia Flightfly, okay? Okay. ;)_

 _In any case, thanks for reading! The next update will be sometime within the next week, depending on how busy my work schedule is. There's a chance an update might come sooner if I get a lot of writing done in the next couple days (a fairly likely occurence since the plot bunnies are hounding me something fierce on this fic right now), but we'll see. ;D_

 _See you next time!_


	4. Chapter 4: Skylar Takes a Nap

**Chapter 4: Skylar Takes a Nap, and Yugo Wakes Up**

* * *

Skylar dealt with the fire in the laundry room first, all but tossing her Duel Disk into her friend's face as she raced to grab a battered fire extinguisher and snuff out the flames before they could spread to anything else.

Once the fire was smothered and gone, Skylar tossed aside the now-empty canister and went in search of the source; after twenty minutes of careful investigation that involved a lot of poking and prodding at semi-charred things, she discovered that something had apparently gone terribly, horribly wrong with one of the exhaust vents for one of the dryers.

The discovery wouldn't have been so upsetting, had it not meant that one of their two dryers was now very broken, leaving them with just the one. And laundry day was the day after tomorrow.

 _Well...shit._ Like she didn't have enough to deal with already? Really? Now she'd have this on her never-ending To-Do List as well, and all she could do was hope that she could track down, and somehow transport, a new (or at least not completely unusable) industrial dryer. And hook it up. Within the next two days.

"I hate my job," Skylar groaned, sinking into a crouch and cradling her head in her hands. "Good grief, _why_ did I volunteer for this crap..."

And there was still the matter of the new dimensional interlopers to deal with...

Or _not_ deal with.

After a bit of contemplation, she decided to, perhaps immaturely and recklessly, ignore that particular development for now. After all, she had one presumed inter-dimensional traveler in her care already, and he would probably be enough trouble on his own; she'd didn't have time to waste chasing down every idiot who crossed into this dimension. Heck, she barely had enough time to deal with the idiots _native_ to this dimension...and even then she could only seem to manage to get a handle on the ones in her immediate vicinity and only for a few moments at a time.

All in all, she didn't need to find _more_ impossible things to do. She had a full plate already, one that was borderline overflowing. _I'll have some Infinitas scouts keep an eye out for anything unusual_ , she decided. More than likely, the new arrivals were just more Academia duelists, joining their brethren in their reign of terror.

And if it _was_ something weirder, well...she'd deal with whenever it became an issue. For now, she was going to go to bed, because it was three in the morning and she'd been up for almost twenty hours straight. If she stayed up any longer, she was liable to lash out or do something ridiculous; she could go for a while without proper rest, but she'd become excessively irritable and testy if such a situation went on too log. And if she passed _that_ point of sleep deprivation, she'd just become flat-out stupid. And considering the fact that she was leading a double life and responsible for keeping who knew how many people protected from vicious multidimensional terrorists, being sleep-deprived and stupid was maybe not the best idea.

So she said goodnight to Irina, requested that she not be bothered for at least the next seven or eight hours unless something else caught on fire, and returned to her room, collapsing onto her cot barely seconds after closing her bedroom door behind her.

* * *

Irina wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the look that had been on Skylar's face as she'd finally returned to her room to rest. The "owner" of the boarding house had looked two steps away from passing out where she stood; Irina hadn't said so, of course, because she knew that a) Skylar was under a lot of pressure and b) saying so might have actually had the opposite effect from sending Skylar to bed.

So she'd simply echoed back her friend's "Good night" before backtracking her path and returning to the room where they'd put the stranger who had Yukito's face.

It was, she realized as she entered the room and looked at him again, unbelievably unsettling to see someone who looked so much like one of her friends and yet know for certain that it wasn't really him.

Sighing, she pulled up a metal folding chair and settled into as comfortable a position as possible; she'd given Jeremy the duty of keeping guard over this stranger, but only once he'd gotten some sleep himself. Meaning that Irina would be watching over the biker herself until Jeremy came to relieve her.

She was actually dozing off a bit when a sudden loud shout jolted her awake and nearly sent her tumbling to the ground as her sleepy muscles didn't quite respond right as she jumped to her feet.

"Where am I?" the biker hollered. "What am I doing here?"

"Quiet, be quiet!" she hissed, waving her hands at him. "People are trying to sleep!"

"Who are you?" he demanded. "Where am I?!"

" _Would you please lower your voice,"_ she said in a severe tone. "Before I finish what those goons from Academia started!"

That shut him up.

Briefly, anyway.

"How do I know _you're_ not from Academia?" the biker asked suspiciously.

Irina snorted. "Do I look like I'm from Academia?" she asked scathingly, motioning to her worn and tattered clothing, finishing off the gesture with a flick at the infinity symbol earring dangling from her left ear.

The biker scowled at her earring in obvious confusion but seemed to otherwise acknowledge her point. "Where am I?" he asked again, then winced and lifted a hand up to lightly touch the bandages wrapped around his forehead that Irina administered before following after Skylar earlier.

"Are the wrappings too tight?" she asked, concerned despite her irritation. Miruna was much more skilled at medic work than Irina was, and it was at times like these that Irina missed her cousin most.

"No," the biker said after a moment, grimacing in pain. "The wrappings are fine. My head just...feels like it's about to fall off or something."

"Well, you did crash pretty badly," Irina remarked. "You're lucky to even be alive."

He just shook his head and winced again. "What happened?" he asked. "I remember starting a Duel with those three from Academia, but after that one attack...I can't remember."

"Probably because you were unconscious at the time," Irina remarked. "Technically, there's nothing for you _to_ remember."

He just gave her a confused look.

She sighed, taking pity on him. "That last attack caused you to crash and get injured; Academia was about to get you when some members of Infinitas stepped in."

His look of confusion only increased. "Infinitas?" he echoed, brows drawing down in a baffled scowl.

"They're this dimension's resistance group," Irina explained, trying to be patient. "They fight back against Academia. You were rescued by Scarlett," she added. "She leads Infinitas and she's the one who brought you here."

He finally nodded, looking like he was beginning to follow what she was saying. "Where is...here?" he asked, slowly looking around at their dimly lit surroundings.

"This is the Fristad Boardinghouse," she replied. "It's a refuge of sorts, for people needing somewhere to stay. It's run by my friend Skylar. She's...an ally of Scarlett's, I guess you could say. She does her best to keep this place safe from Academia, but there's always the risk of being found out and needing to fight for our lives. It's why I'm keeping an eye on you even though you're injured," she added. "You're obviously not from this dimension, and we can't afford to take any chances."

"Are you saying that you think I'm a spy?" he asked, now starting to look annoyed. "That I'm working with Academia and those jerks from the Fusion Dimension?"

"I'm saying that until we know for sure," she answered evenly, "we're going to keep an eye on you."

"I'm not affiliated with the Fusion Dimension!" he snapped angrily. "Why does everyone always assume-"

"Would you please keep your voice down?" she demanded. "It's an ungodly early hour and people are trying to rest!"

He subsided, glowering. "Fine," he said sulkily.

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off a headache. "What's your name, anyway?" she asked him.

"Yugo," he replied. "My name is Yugo."

"Nice to meet you, Yugo," she said in response, holding out her hand. "I'm Irina."

He reached out with his right hand, then winced again as the movement jostled his splinted wrist. Grimacing, he switched arms and gingerly shook her hand, clearly mindful of how thoroughly wrecked his physical condition was. "I'm pretty beat up," he asked after a moment of silence, "aren't I?"

"Nothing that won't heal with time," Irina said to start, because Miruna was always telling her to be encouraging even when giving bad news. "You've got some breaks and bruises, and we're pretty sure you have a concussion. You're welcome to stay here for as long as you need, just don't-"

A soft knock came on the door.

Yugo and Irina both turned their heads to look at the door in bafflement.

"Jeremy's not supposed to come relieve me for at least another three hours," Irina remarked, frowning.

Yugo just gave her a blank look. "Who's Jeremy?"

She shook her head. "Never mind." She headed for the door and cracked it open carefully. "Yes?"

A familiar face framed by pale orange hair looked back at her. "That's all you've got to say to your favorite cousin when she gets back after a mission? 'Yes'?

Irina's face split into a wide grin as she threw and door open and wrapped Miruna in a fierce hug. "You're back! Finally! Skylar and I were getting so worried."

Miruna gave a low laugh and returned her embrace. "I know, and I'm sorry we were gone so long." She glanced over her shoulder at Yukito, who was leaning casually against the wall. "We ran into some trouble here and there, so getting back took longer than we anticipated."

"As long as you're here now," Irina said, still smiling, "that's all that matters. Although," she tacked on, "your timing really is incredible, because guess what?"

"Do tell."

"One of those dimensional counterparts we've heard about happens to be here. Like, right now." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder to the interior of the room. "Right on that bed, as a matter of fact."

"Whose counterpart?" Yukito asked, coming over with a curious look. "Mine or Runa's?"

"One of yours," Irina replied. "If you two didn't differ so much in coloring, I'd have assumed he was your brother or something." She shook her head. "Skylar's going to be _so_ relieved you two are back; this guy with your face turning up just about broke her brain, I think. She's not so thrilled about all this counterpart stuff that's got Academia all hot and bothered. I think she liked it better when the fight was just us versus them with none of this extra stuff going on."

"She's a pragmatist," Yukito remarked. "She'll come around eventually. For now, though, can I see him?"

"Only if _you_ ," she pointed to her cousin, "take a look at his injuries. Skylar and I did our best, but we're neither of us very capable medics. Also," she glanced at her watch, "I have a patrol coming up in forty minutes, so could you guys maybe babysit him for me until Jeremy comes to take over bed-watch?"

"You have Jeremy on bed-watch?" Miruna asked in surprise. "Isn't he, like, barely twelve?"

"He's fourteen," Irina replied, a wry smile tugging at her lip. "And we've hardly got any room to judge; we're not even old enough to drink, remember?"

"Which is a damn shame," Yukito remarked, peering into the room and giving a reluctant wave to Yugo when he saw the injured biker on the bed, "because I could really go for something mind-numbing right now."

"You and me both," Irina agreed, wondering what exactly had happened to turn their world into such an insane place.

* * *

 _A/N: Okay, so no Duels in this chapter, and no real action. Mostly it was just Yugo waking up. Which is good, both because...hey, he's okay! But also because it coincided with Yukito and Miruna getting back and they're two important original characters who have been previously mentioned but not properly introduced. ;D In any case, as stated/implied earlier, Yukito is the Null counterpart to Yuya/Yuto/Yugo/Yuri. But things are a little more complicated than just that, though, so stay tuned. ;)_


	5. Chapter 5: The Stygian Wasteland

_A/N: Okay, so this time we have a chapter focusing entirely on Irina, because apparently Skylar is taking a **really** long nap. XD_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: The Stygian Wasteland**

* * *

Irina left Miruna and Yukito to keep an eye on Yugo and look after things at the boardinghouse as she left for her Infinitas patrol. Like Scarlett, she did double-duty, working at the Fristad boardinghouse while also participating in the resistance efforts of Infinitas. In her case, though, she wasn't bothering to hide her identity as a member of the resistance group. People knew she was one of Scarlett's most trusted lieutenants, but other than that all they knew was that she was supposedly staying at Fristad to serve as Scarlett's eyes and ears there; as far she knew, no one knew that Scarlett was actually Skylar's true identity and that she hardly needed someone spying on the boardinghouse since she ran the damn place.

It aggravated Irina, how much effort Skylar invested into keeping her two identities separate. She didn't think it would do any good in the long run for Skylar to keep her dual duties a secret; it was the sort of secret that couldn't be kept quiet forever and one that might very well drive her closest friend to the brink of insanity in the meantime.

But Skylar was stubborn and not willing to listen to reason when it came to her two identities, and Irina had gotten tired of arguing about it, so she'd let it drop for the time-being.

Instead, she directed her frustration into more productive things, like her resistance duties. She, despite being part of the Infinitas leading trio along with Skylar and their friend Giovanni, still did routine patrols just like all the other members of the group.

Tonight, her patrol was going to take her through what was now called the Stygian Wasteland; prior to the invasion, it had been a business campus belonging to the Styxx Corporation, one of the companies that had been developing the holographic technology that had been stolen by the military. The same holographic tech that would have, had it not been taken away, eventually been developed into the Null Dimension's equivalent of Solid Vision. But since it had been confiscated for secret military projects, that had never happened, and instead they'd all be totally blindsided when Academia had invaded their world and brought with them real monsters born from a children's card game.

The Stygian Wasteland was one of the most badly affected areas of Summerland City; because the Styxx Corporation had still been doing research into holographic technology when Academia had invaded, the soldiers from the Fusion Dimension had spared no expense in utterly laying waste to the place, so determined to remove any chance of the Null Dimension fighting back that they'd not held back or shown mercy at all.

Irina's father had been a scientist at Styxx. He hadn't been particularly important, really, but he'd believed in his work and that dedication had cost him his life.

And his death was only one among countless others, all of them victims to the brutality of Academia and their horrifying Fusion cards. There was, Irina knew, a slim possibility that her father had been carded rather than killed; there had been no body found, after all.

But to Irina it was the same thing in the end; since no one even knew how sealing people in cards worked, there was no way to free them. Meaning that even if by some miracle her father had been carded instead of murdered, and if she somehow found the card containing him...there was still no way to return him to life. He would be trapped in a card forever, stuck in a living hell.

Death, in her opinion, was probably a kinder fate.

Shaking her head to clear it of those kinds of morbid and depressing thoughts, she refocused herself on where she going. Her destination this time was a dilapidated and rubble-filled courtyard on the north side of the Wasteland; Giovanni had mentioned a few days previously that some scouts had seen some Academia students lurking the area but hadn't been able to pursue at the time. Since they hadn't been able to, Irina would. And after a trek that took almost an hour and a half, she finally reached the remains of the courtyard.

Once there, she was somewhat disappointed to see that it was deserted. There were signs that someone might have been there recently; the faintly smoking remains of a campfire and some boot prints in the dirt. But there was no one around anywhere.

Or at least that's what she thought at first. The massive Solid Vision blast that came soaring through the air towards her shattered that preconception pretty fast, though, as she was sent hurtling through the air to crash into a twisted oak tree that had been scorched to blackness from whatever attack had originally destroyed the courtyard.

She scrambled to her feet immediately, activating her Duel Disk as she saw an Academia student in a yellow coat standing atop a pile of rubble across the courtyard.

"Why have you entered my domain?" the student asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you that eager to die?"

"You're the one who's trespassing," Irina snapped, temper flaring. "Go back to your own damn dimension!"

The Academia student snorted. "Yeah, that's not happening. Not until we find what we're looking for." A speculative look crossed her face. "I doubt you know anything useful, but a Duel might be amusing anyway. I've hardly had a chance to do anything fun since I got transferred here from the Xyz dimension. The only Duels I've had since coming here were those other rebels last week. And they didn't put up much of a fight at all; they hardly even screamed when I carded them after, too. Talk about pathetic! They weren't friends of yours, by any chance? I notice you've got that same stupid symbol on your coat that they did."

Irina's vision ran with red as her fury crested; two of the four Infinitas scouts who had patrolled this area last week had gone missing after the group had split up to save time; it seemed like she now knew what had happened to them. "I accept your challenge," she said angrily, hands shaking with suppressed rage as she slipped her Deck into her Disk. "On the condition that I go first."

"Oh?" She arched an eyebrow. "And why should I do that? Not that it matters," she added with a sly smile. "You'll end up just like all the rest once the Duel's done. But still, why give you the advantage of going first?"

"If you're really so good," Irina said, "then you don't need to go first to win, do you?"

The teenager in the yellow jacket smirked. "I suppose that's true. Very well, then. You get the first move, rebel scum."

"Duel!" they shouted.

 ** _Irina vs. Cherise_**

 _ **[8000]-[8000]**_

"My move," Irina said, drawing a card. "I'll start by summoning Queen's Bodyguard [1700/1200] in attack mode. Next, I activate the Equip Spell Axe of Despair, which raises Queen's Bodyguard to 2700 ATK! Unfortunately, I _can't_ attack, so I'll place two more cards face-down and end my turn."

"My turn," Cherise declared. "I draw, and activate Mausoleum of the Emperor. This Field Spell allows me to Tribute Summon higher level monsters without actually Tributing; instead, I can pay 1000 LP for every monster I would have needed to Tribute for the Summoning. So, I'll pay 2000 LP to summon Ancient Gear Golem [3000/3000] in attack mode! Now, Ancient Gear Golem, attack her Queen's Bodyguard!"

Irina gritted her teeth as the Golem obliterated her monster and dropped her LP by 300 points, leaving her with 7700. She absolutely _hated_ the Ancient Gear archetype; it was a type favored by the Obelisk Force, Academia's elites, and as such she'd seen it often enough to make her sick during the initial invasion. This Duelist, though...she was wearing a yellow coat, not the normal Obelisk Force uniform with its blue jacket and funky helmet.

"What's wrong?" Cherise asked with a knowing smirk. "You don't like my Deck?"

"You're not Obelisk Force," Irina said, trembling with rage as memories assaulted her. Buildings being blown up from Solid Vision attacks, innocent victims trapped inside to suffocate or be crushed. Small children, left scared and crying and alone because their parents had been carded by the merciless Obelisk Force and their terrifying monsters. Her stomach lurched and it was all she could do to not throw up. "What are you doing with those cards?"

"Because I _was_ Obelisk Force, once. Got demoted," she added with a slight pout, "for extremist behavior. They said I was taking things too far."

Irina made a choking sound; if _Academia_ thought that Cherise had behaved too psychotically, what exactly had she done?! "Define 'too far'," she said, voice hoarse.

Cherise just gave a razor-edged smile, her expression equal parts condescending and calculating, like a viper that was sure of capturing its prey and devouring it. "Take your turn," she said to Irina, "or I'll take your lack of action as a forfeit and skip straight to the part that I _really_ enjoy."

Irina took a deep breath to steady herself and drew a card. "My move," she said, trying to tamp down on her rage and hate and fear, to take those feelings and twist them into something useful. Trying to use them to bolster herself in this Duel that was suddenly so much more than a simple encounter with an enemy during her patrol. "I summon another Queen's Bodyguard in attack mode. Then, I'll equip it with the Axe of Despair that I had face-down, along with the Unicorn Horn Spell Card in my hand. This brings Queen's Guard's attack up to 3400, which plenty to deal with your Ancient Gear Golem! Queen's Guard, attack!"

Cherise's smirk faded as the attack hit and her LP rolled down by 400 points to 5600. "Not bad," she said.

"I end my turn," Irina said flatly.

Cherise's unnerving smile came back. "My move, then. I draw, and activate the Terraforming Spell Card to add one Field Spell from my Deck to my hand. Next, I'll activate the Activate effect of my Mausoleum of the Emperor again to summon one monster face-down in defense mode. Then I end my turn."

Irina drew her next card. "I'll start by summoning my third and final Queen's Bodyguard in attack mode, and equip it with my second Unicorn Horn that I placed face-down and the Axe of Despair I just drew."

Cherise's eyes widened in a look that was almost comical. "How many damn equip spells do you have?!" she shrieked, looking outraged.

Irina gave a grim smile. "As many as I need," she replied. "Now, thanks to those Spells, _both_ my Queen's Bodyguards have 3400 ATK! I'll have one of them attack your face-down monster!"

Cherise's face-down monster flipped up, revealing Jinzo; while normally an impressive card, its defense of 1500 was no match for the attack and it got blasted away and sent to the Graveyard.

"Next," Irina continued, "I'll have my second Queen's Bodyguard attack you directly for 3400 points of damage!

Cherise screamed as the direct attack went through and dropped her LP to 1200 points.

"I end my turn," Irina announced at last. "Your move."

"About time," Cherise snapped, drawing her next card with a shaking hand. "I remove from play one Machine-type card in my hand to Special Summon Beast Machine King Barbaros Ür [3800/1200]. I'll have him attack and destroy one of your Queen's Bodyguards; his effect means that there's no battle damage," she added, "but at least it's one less monster on your side of the field!"

Irina kept her face carefully blank as she transferred her card to the Graveyard, not saying anything.

Cherise looked disappointed that she'd been unable to get a rise out of Irina. "I end my turn," she said after a moment of tense silence.

"My turn," Irina said, and drew a card. "Thanks to the secondary effect of Unicorn Horn," she went, "it got returned to the top of my deck after being sent to the Graveyard when you destroyed the monster it was equipped to. I play it again now, and equip it to my remaining Queen's Bodyguard, raising the ATK to 4100. Queen's Bodyguard, attack Beast Machine King Barabaros Ür!"

Cherise's LP dropped by another 300 points, leaving her with just 900 total.

"I end my turn," Irina said, watching Cherise gasp for air with a twisted sort of satisfaction.

"This isn't over," Cherise said frantically, eyes wide as she drew her next card. Gaze expectant, she looked down at it, and screamed. "I can't be out of moves!" she shouted, eyes flashing with madness and anger. "It isn't possible!"

Irina just remained silent, waiting.

"I...I end my turn," Cherise said finally, hands dropped to her sides as she realized that she really was out of moves. Her skin was pale and her bottom lip was trembling, as if she'd never before been faced with the idea of defeat.

"My move, then," Irina said, not affected by her enemy's frightened appearance in the slightest; plenty of her people, both Infinitas and innocents, had been terrified of Academia duelists, and been shown no mercy. Irina herself would do no less to those who inspired that terror. "Time to finish this," she declared. "Queen's Bodyguard," she ordered "attack her directly!"

The attack wiped out the rest of Cherise's LP with room to spare, and the ex-Obelisk Force duelist crashed to her knees from the impact of the attack, collapsing forward as the powerful blast of energy knocked her unconscious.

The final score, _**Irina: 7700, Cherise: 0**_ , popped up onto Irina's Duel Disk display, but she barely gave it a passing glance; she already knew how things had turned out.

It was time to move on to the next step: deciding what to do with the Academia duelist she now had at her mercy.

* * *

 _A/N: So, this chapter ended up being shorter than normal despite the fact it had a duel in it and that normally fattens up the chapters. This duel went by pretty fast, though, which surprised me because normally when I do a Duel with Irina's Deck in Tag Force 4 (it's basically an Allure Queen Deck with a ridiculous number of Spells and Traps added in), the duel will either result in a loss right away because I don't draw monsters in time or it will drag on for a really long time. This Duel (like most of them, I played it out in Tag Force first before putting it into the story) actually went quickly in Irina's favor, which was helpful since she needed to win. XD Storywise/character-wise, I'm going to say that it's because Cherise playing an Ancient Gear monster tripped something of a berserk button for Irina, who (like Kurosaki and others from Heartland in the Xyz Dimension) absolutely hates the Ancient Gear archetype because of the Obelisk Force and that made her go full throttle without holding back, but in the actual original duel I did, it was really just nice timing. ;)_

 _Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter! And sorry if Irina's behavior/character seems...I don't know, inconsistent/weird? I'm having fun writing her, but I'm having some trouble pinning down her personality. I think she's got lots of issues, probably. I sort of think of her as a chick version of Kurosaki: heart's in the right place, but there's a lot of recklessness and anger and stuff in there to get in the way. She certainly displays some great moments of bad thinking in upcoming chapters. XD_

 _See you next time!_


	6. Chapter 6: Miruna and Yugo

**Chapter 6: Miruna of Null and Yugo of Synchro**

* * *

"So your name is...Miruna?"

Miruna nodded, careful not to jostle Yugo too badly as she inspected his multitude of injuries. "It is," she said, peering intently at his pupils to make sure that they were the same size.

"C-could you maybe not c-come so c-close?" Yugo said nervously, leaning slightly away from her. "Not that you're not pretty, but I, uh, I'm kind of..well, we're not really _together_ together, but I don't...Uhm, what I mean is that-"

"Relax," Miruna said with a laugh, lifting a hand to forestall any extra babbling. "That's not why I'm invading your personal space bubble. I'm checking your eyes," she explained. "Irregularity in how your eyes respond to light can indicate how severe a concussion is; if your pupils weren't the same size, for example, it's called anisocoria, and it could mean that you have bleeding in your brain."

Yugo let out an alarmed yelp. "What? Brain damage?" His eyes widened comically. "Do I have brain damage?"

Miruna's smile widened. "As far as I can tell," she assured him, "everything seems to be fine, all things considered. You rattled your brain-pan pretty intensely, but your pupils seem fine, and you're tracking things okay. You'll probably be nauseous for a couple days and have headaches on and off for a bit, but I don't foresee any huge problems."

Yugo let out a dramatic sigh of relief. "Whew!" he said. "That's good to hear. I was worried that I was about to start bleeding out from my eyes or ears or something!"

Miruna giggled. "Sorry, but no. Not from this head injury, at least."

Yugo flashed her a bright smile, which then subsided into a slighter more serious expression. "What about the rest of it?" he asked, lifting up his splinted wrist and gesturing carefully at his methodically wrapped ribs, which had indeed turned out to be badly cracked.

Miruna sighed, amusement fading. "The rest will take a bit more time," she admitted. "Your wrist is broken and will likely take at least a month to heal completely. Your ribs will take a little longer, probably about six weeks or so. Your knee," she added reluctantly, "was also badly sprained during your crash; I can't be certain until we do some motion tests, but it could heal in as quickly as two weeks or take as long as two months."

"What?" Yugo said, looking dismayed. "But that's...! I _can't_ take that long to heal, there are things I need to do! I need to find Rin, and help Yuya, and-"

"You need," she said firmly, "to rest, and heal."

"No!" Yugo snapped. "You don't _get_ it. I. Need. To. Find. Rin."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Miruna asked curiously. "She must be, for you to be so determined."

Yugo flushed in embarrassment, but didn't let her question shake his focus. "She's important to me," he said stubbornly. "I need to to find her and bring her home."

"I understand that," Miruna said carefully, "but what would your Rin say, if she saw you going out to fight in your condition? Would she be pleased about that, do you think?"

Yugo flushed again, this time in something that seemed to be closer to shame. "No," he admitted after a moment, eyes downcast. "She'd be super mad at me if I went out hurt like this...she'd shout at me about being irresponsible and getting myself killed."

"Your Rin," Miruna remarked, "sounds like a very intelligent young woman."

Yugo looked up and gave a slightly sad smile. "Yeah. She is. She's...the best." His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he looked at her. "You look like her, just like Yuzu and Selena," he said after a moment, "but there's something different about you, too. You're more...centered. Or something. It's like you're like the others, but not really. More grown-up." He snapped his fingers as something occurred to him. "It's like you're older!"

Miruna smiled faintly. "I think Yuki and I _are_ a bit older than the rest of you," she acknowledged. "One more difference setting our Null Dimension apart from the others, I guess."

Yugo looked at her curiously. "So how old are you, then?"

Miruna wrinkled her nose at him. "It's rude to ask a lady that," she informed him. "But you're injured," she went on with a mischievous wink, "so I'll take pity on you. I just turned sixteen; so did Yukito, actually."

"Wha-?!" Yugo gaped at her. "But that means...you guys are a full two years older than the rest of us!"

"Looks like it," she agreed easily.

"But that's..." He scowled. "I don't understand...if we're all counterparts of each other, how is it the two of you are older than the rest of us? That doesn't make any sense!"

"None of this," Yukito remarked as he slipped into the room and took up a position leaning against the wall, watching them both, "makes any sense. Duel Monsters that can actually hurt you, inter-dimensional warfare...Other people in other dimensions, looking exactly like _me_ and _my_ girlfriend." He shook his head, his dark brown hair falling into his eyes a bit from the movement. "I've found it's better to not worry about making sense of it. It's too confusing. Just take things as they come and go from there." He tilted his head as she regarding Yugo. "I don't suppose _you'd_ know anything about why Academia is doing all of this?"

Yugo stared at his Null Counterpart, mouth ajar as he openly gaped, his light blue eyes meeting Yukito's green as they sized each other up. "You're different, too," was all Yugo said in the end, looking suddenly exhausted, as if the events of the day had finally caught up with him.

"See what you've done," Miruna said, turning towards Yukito with a scolding look. "You've gone and scared him!"

Yukito snorted. "He's not scared, Runa, just a bit overwhelmed and dealing with a head injury. I'm sure he'll bounce back soon enough."

Miruna narrowed her gaze at him. "Yuki," she said warningly.

He rolled his eyes and straightened up. "Okay, okay," he said, heading for the door. "I'll put off interrogating him until he's not about to pass out from shock, okay? Happy now?"

"Ecstatic," she said sarcastically, still faintly annoyed that he would come harass someone in such a weak state. She still blew him a kiss when he left the room, though, and got a flirty wink in response.

"You two are...really close, aren't you," Yugo said softly, watching the door shut behind Yukito.

"I guess so," Miruna said absently as she swiveled back around to her patient. "He was an exchange student back before the invasion started, and he got assigned to my cousin Irina's house for his host family. We actually didn't get along very well at all in the beginning, but..."

"But?" Yugo prompted.

She gave a slightly pained smile. "Well, once Academia invaded...a lot of things changed. Now I can't think of being without him. He's...very important to me. There's nothing I wouldn't do to keep him safe."

Yugo swallowed hard and nodded. "That's how it is for me and Rin, too," he said softly. "And for Yuya and Yuzu."

"Yu-who?" she asked blankly.

"Oh!" Yugo shook his head. "Sorry, I forgot you wouldn't know them. Yuya and his friend Yuzu, they're the counterparts from the Standard Dimension. They're really loyal to each other," he added. "If anything happens to Yuzu, Yuya totally freaks out."

"Mm," was all Miruna said in response to that.

"I think Yuto...was the same," Yugo went on, his voice growing so quiet she almost couldn't make it out. "All he wanted was to find his most precious person, and I..."

Miruna opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about now, but a beeping sound came from her Duel Disk and she glanced down at it with a frown.

The touch screen on her Disk was flashing up a small warning box. _Anomaly detected_ , the alert read. _Level 2 Distortion._

Yugo somehow managed to lean forward enough to peer at the message. "What the heck?" he asked, confusion written all over his face.

"It's a specialized Duel Disk," she explained. "My uncle made a few of them before he went missing; they have special sensors built in that can detect harmful distortions in the fabric of our world."

Yugo stared at her. "You lost me at harmful distortions," he admitted after a moment.

She smiled despite her worry. "My uncle was a researcher for Styxx Corporation. They were a company responsible for a lot of our dimension's technological advances. We're still behind compared to the other dimensions, though," she added. "We'd never even dreamed about anything remotely like Solid Vision until Academia invaded." She shuddered. "Which is partly what made it so horrifying. People getting attacked by monsters born from a kid's card game? Talk about nightmarish." She shook her head. "But I'm getting off track. This," she patted the device on her arm, "is one of a series of seven. We only have four of them in our possession; the others disappeared when he did."

"I still don't get it," Yugo complained. "What about the...distortions? In the, uh...fabric of the world, or whatever."

Miruna sighed. "I can't explain it well," she told him, "since I don't quite understand myself...but my uncle was worried about Academia's invasion. Like, worried beyond the issue of the invasion itself. He was concerned that their arrival here from their home dimension was negatively impacting the very balance of _our_ dimension. And I have to admit," she said slowly, "I think he was probably right. Things have just been getting stranger and stranger...the weather's downright freakish now in a lot of places, and there are tons of rumors about real monsters appearing out of nowhere and then vanishing just as mysteriously. There are also," she added, "gravity anomalies, temporal anomalies, and all sorts of bizarre things that just can't be explained."

"So...your dimension's going crazy?" Yugo summarized.

"Pretty much," Miruna agreed. "My Duel Disk," she said, "and Yukito's can sense certain types of distortions. My uncle never explained it so we're not sure of the specifics, but there seem to be three levels of intensity so far. And oddly enough, to seal the distortion we almost always have to duel someone and win."

"Duel someone?" Yugo repeated, looked baffled. "But...why?"

"I have no idea," Miruna admitted, shrugging. "Usually it's someone who's been around the distortion for too long and it's driven them crazy. Occasionally it's someone who did something to rip a hole in reality on purpose, for whatever crazy reason they had. Yuki and I," she went on, "just spent a hellishly long week investigating an Academia work camp where the one of the jailers used his interdimensional travel tech to trap some of the prisoners in the dead space between dimensions." She grimaced. "That was one of the worst."

Yugo seemed incapable of speaking after her explanations, his facial expression one of shock and disgust. "That's..." His voice drifted off as if he couldn't think of an appropriate description.

"Yeah," Miruna said softly. Then she sighed. "Look," she said to him, "I'm sorry if this was a lot for you to take in all at once, but you need to understand how things are here in the Null Dimension. I'll try to have someone explain things better soon, but for now I need to go look into this." She tapped at the message on her Disk's screen. "Yukito's going to be hanging around for a bit until Skylar wakes up, so if you need anything, just holler for him; he'll hear you."

Yugo's expression was doubtful and wary, as if he didn't think Yukito would actually be a helpful person to call for, but he nodded anyway. "Sure thing," he said. "And Miruna..." He swallowed hard. "Be...careful. Okay?"

She looked briefly surprised by his well-wishing, then smiled. "I'll try," she said with a wink, her bronze-colored eyes sparkling, and then she was striding out the door, long orange hair swishing behind her.

"Be careful," Yugo said again to thin air, trying to ignore the panic clawing in his chest from seeing someone else with Rin's face go charging off into danger.

He needed to hurry up and heal, he realized. He needed to heal fast, so that he could return to the fight and protect the people he cared about.

He was sick of losing people because he wasn't strong enough to keep them safe.


	7. Chapter 7: Avatars of Distortion

**Chapter 7: Avatars of Distortion**

* * *

Yukito clearly wasn't thrilled when Miruna informed him of her plans to go investigate the latest anomaly by herself, but after she'd pointed out that there'd be no one to look after things at Fristad if he came with her, since Irina was out on patrol and Skylar was very definitely asleep and would likely stay that way for at least the next ten hours, he'd relented, but only after making her promise to call him for back-up if she ran into too much trouble.

"Define 'too much'," she said cheekily, kissing him lightly on the cheek when his only response was a glare. "Relax, Yuki, I'll be fine. I'm sure it's just something silly. I'll be back before you know it."

"None of these distortions are ever just _silly_ ," Yukito grumbled, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "Demented, sure, but never silly." He huffed out a sigh. "I can't lose you," he said in a low voice, pressing his forehead to hers. "I can't, Runa."

"You're not going to," she said softly, smiling at him gently. "I'll take care of the anomaly and come back right away, okay? Promise."

"You'd better come back right away," Yukito muttered. "Or I'll come chasing after you, Fristad be damned."

She tsked at him. "Don't let Skylar catch you saying things like that."

Yukito snorted. "As if she would dare kick my ass when she's pretending to be the meek little inn keeper. Although I honestly don't understand how no one has realized yet that she's Scarlett. I mean, hello? They're exactly the same?"

Miruna shrugged. "People see what they want to see, I guess? Besides, Skylar _is_ pretty good at flipping personalities; it's only really obvious that she's Scarlett when she loses her temper."

"Or if the wig falls off and shows her red hair," Yukito noted, snickering a bit as he recalled some of their earlier fiascos with putting together Skylar's disguise.

"Stop it," Miruna chided, smacking him lightly on the chest. "She pins it in place now, you know, so that it won't fall off if she needs to run or something."

Yukito just rolled his eyes and dropped a kiss lightly onto the top of her head. "Go deal with the anomaly," he said, "and come home safe."

"I will," she assured him, squeezing his hand and then turning to go.

Once outside the boardinghouse, she pulled up the anomaly alert on her Duel Disk's touch screen again, this time opening the message and syncing it with the built-in map that was programmed into the Disk's computer. The alert created a bright ping on the map a few miles away, over in what had once been the Nizami shopping district; she hadn't been there since the invasion, but it looked like it was time to go now.

It was a forty-five minute walk, but she made it in half an hour because she wanted to keep her word to Yuki, to deal with the problem quickly and come back. When she got there, though, she realized that maybe things wouldn't be as easy as she'd thought.

The entire shopping district had turned into some sort of icy wasteland. All the buildings, even the ones that were still standing, were covered in ice and frost, and the streets seemed to be piled high with snow drifts at least three feet deep. Even the massive fountain that had graced the entrance to the district was frozen solid, the water frozen in glistening arcs and falls in a way that caught the eye and hypnotized.

It was vaguely amusing, she noted, that the distortion was centered in some sort of wintery wasteland; what better environment for her to explore, than one that mirrored her own Deck's theme? She did wish she'd thought to bring a coat, though; the dress and leggings that she was wearing were really not the best clothing for frosty temperatures.

There wasn't time to go back to Fristad and change, though; the pulsing signal on her Disk's touchscreen was getting more intense. She needed to locate the anomaly and deal with it quickly, before whatever it was escalated and caused something more dangerous than an inexplicable icy wilderness.

So she entered the frozen wasteland, gritting her teeth and ignoring the goosebumps that spread across her skin from the chill. "Come on, Miruna," she muttered to herself. "You've got this; a little cold is nothing compared to some of the things you've been through. Suck it up."

Eventually, she reached the food court and discovered the anomaly. It was, she was pretty sure, some sort of gravitational distortion; there was a popcorn machine hovering midair along with several tables and chairs, the force of gravity around them apparent lessening. Meanwhile, a neighboring hot dog stand had been crushed into a nearly unrecognizable mass of twisted metal and plastic; gravity had apparently grown too strong in that particular spot.

She was careful to step around any spot in the plaza that seemed to be affected in any way; the last thing she needed was to get smashed to the ground or sent flying into outer-space because she wasn't watching where she walked.

Thankfully, she only needed to cross the courtyard halfway before she came across what, or rather who, she was looking for.

"My, oh my," a high-pitched voice said, accompanied by a laugh that sounded borderline hysterical. "Look what we have here."

Miruna spun around to find the source of the voice; it turned out to be coming from a gaunt woman with mismatched eyes and tangled hair who seemed to be wearing an outfit made of tinfoil and duct-tape; the woman was, Miruna realized, probably the Avatar of Distortion she'd have to Duel to seal the anomaly.

The woman just looked at her with a crazed grin. "You're not quite dressed right for this weather are you, princess?" A disturbing giggle. "But then who is, anymore. Nobody, that's who! Not a single one of us! We're all just puppets with our strings cut...and then _we're_ cut! Cut and sliced and diced into itty bitty bloody pieces!" She laughed again and this time it went on and on until she broke off into a wheezing gasping sound that reminded Miruna of broken bagpipes.

It was difficult sometimes, to tell whether someone was insane from becoming an Avatar of Distoriton...or if they'd been insane to begin with and being too close to a distortion had simply exacerbated that.

Miruna was pretty sure, though, that this woman had been a few cards short of a full Deck even before the anomaly had popped up nearby. It wasn't too terribly surprising; not everyone could cope with everything that had been lost during Academia's invasion. Some people just crumbled inside and never recovered.

Still, Miruna had made a promise to herself to do everything she could for the Avatars; to help them, if she could.

"What's your name?" Miruna asked the woman, keeping her voice carefully modulated; not too soft, not too loud, with no emotion other than curiosity.

The woman just laughed again, the sound high and grating. "I was Grizelda, once. A long, long, long, long, looooooooooonnnnngggggg time ago." She giggled. "Grizzly Grizelda, that's what my baby sister always called me...but she's not calling anyone anything no more, no, no no! She's not doing much of anything anymore, not with the way she's buried below the ice here...so, so, so, so deep! So deep," she said again, and cackled. "Now I'm all that's left!" She thrust her hands into the air. "Queen of the mountain, that's me!"

Miruna repressed the urge to take a large step back, and instead leaned slightly to one side to peer past the woman at a strange shimmering patch of air that was nestled between a hovering arcade game and crumpled newspaper rack. The main body of the anomaly, she realized. Maybe if she could just get around the crazy lady in the tinfoil dress...

But the second she took a step forward, the woman's entire demeanor changed.

"You stop right there," she snapped, her voice becoming deeper and more threatening. "Stop right there, princess, before you do something stupid."

Miruna froze, and narrowed her gaze at Grizelda. Or rather...at the presence _in_ Grizelda.

It was a phenomena she and Yuki had encountered a time or two before with Avatars of Distortion; it was like something else took over, some sort of dark energy that came not from the Avatars themselves or even from the anomalies but somewhere else entirely.

Miruna didn't know what the energy could be, but she knew it wasn't good. Avatars under the influence of that presence were infinitely more dangerous than those left to their own devices. It seemed like she'd be getting more of a fight than she'd realized this time.

"I need to seal that anomaly," Miruna said calmly, taking another step forward.

"I said stop moving!" Grizelda shouted, thrusting a hand out in an imperious gesture.

Miruna ignored her, and took another two steps towards the patch of shimmering air.

" _I said stop!_ " the Avatar roared, and this time her gesture was accompanied by a food court umbrella that came shooting across the plaza like a spear.

Miruna barely managed to dodge to the side before it impaled her. "Looks like we're going to do this the hard way after all, then," she said gravely, activating her Duel Disk. "Grizelda, I challenge you to a Duel!"

Grizelda laughed, and this time it wasn't as high-pitched, but it _was_ twice as insane. "I accept your challenge," she replied, a manic grin creasing her cheeks so hard that it looked painful. "I'll even let you go first, princess!"

"Thanks," Miruna said dryly. "I _really_ appreciate that."

"Duel!" they shouted.

 _ **Miruna vs. Grizelda**_

 _ **[8000]-[8000]**_

Miruna took a deep breath. "I draw," she said. "And to start off, I'll play one monster in face-down defense position. Then I'll throw down one face-down card and end my turn."

Grizelda gave a twisted smile. "My turn; I draw. And summon V-Tiger Jet [1600/1800] in attack mode. V-Tiger Jet, attack her face-down monster!

Miruna hit a button on her Disk. "I activate my Trap Card, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, which negates your attack and returns to face-down position afterward."

Grizelda's smile turned down into a grimace. "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."

Miruna drew her next card. "I summon Cold Enchanter [1600/1200] in attack mode. By activating Cold Enchanter's effect, I can discard one card from my hand to place one Ice Counter on one face-up monster on the field. I discard Feng Shui Master of the Ice Barrier to the Graveyard to place one Ice Counter on Cold Enchanter."

Grizelda blinked slowly, like she was confused. "Not on _my_ monster?"

"Nope," Miruna said easily. "Because next comes Cold Enchanter's second effect: Cold Enchanter gains 300 ATK for every Ice Counter on the field, bringing his ATK up to 1900. Cold Enchanter, attack his V-Tiger Jet!

Grizelda shrieked as her LP dropped by 300 points to end up at 7700. "You destroyed my monster!" she wailed, voice cracking.

"Yes, I did. And _that's_ why I didn't put the Ice Counter on your card," she remarked. "If I had, it would have been destroyed along with your monster; this way, the Ice Counter stays in play and keeps my monster's attack points elevated. Turn end," she concluded.

Grizelda scowled. "I draw. And activate the Luminous Spark Field Spell. Then, I summon Z-Metal Tank [1500/1300 ] whose ATK goes up to 2000 on account of my Field Spell! Now, Z-Metal Tank, attack Cold Enchanter!"

Miruna tsked. "Nice try. But I activate Scrap-Iron Scarecrow again, negating your attack."

Grizelda's expression turned even more sour. "I end my turn."

"And I take mine," Miruna replied, drawing a card. "I activate Cold Enchanter's effect again, discarding the Ice Master in my hand and placing another Ice Counter on Cold Enchanter, raising his ATK to 2200. Now, Cold Enchanter, attack Z-Metal Tank! Since Cold Enchanter has 200 more attack points, you take damage and your LP goes down to 7500! With that," she said, giving a slight bow, "I end my turn."

Grizelda drew her next card with shaking hands, her uncanny mismatched eyes shining with an eerie glow. "My move," she said, and her voice was lower again, deeper and more dangerous even as her movements became more jerky and uncoordinated. "I will set one monster card face-down, and end my turn."

Miruna swallowed, unnerved by whatever presence was lurking in Grizelda's soul; it raised the hairs on the back of her neck, even when it wasn't blatantly active. "I draw," she said slowly, then shook her head, trying to clear her head and focus on the Duel. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your face-down card."

The card flipped up, revealing Roll Out!, then burst apart and went to the Graveyard.

"Next," Miruna continued, "I activate the Spell Card Monster Reborn from my hand, to bring back the Ice Master [2500/2000] I discarded on my last turn. Now, I'll attack your face-down monster with Cold Enchanter, and then attack directly with Ice Master, doing 2500 points of damage!"

Grizelda screamed and cursed as her LP dropped to 5000. "You're going to regret that," she growled. "My turn." She drew a card and gave a disturbingly wide smile. "I summon W-Wing Catapult [1300/1500] in attack mode. Thanks to Luminous Spark, its attack goes up to 1800. I'll have it attack your face-down defensive monster; go, W-Wing Catapult!"

Miruna considered blocking the attack with Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, but decided against it. Instead, she let the attack go through and... "I activate the effect of Blizzed, Defender of the Ice Barrier," she said. "When Blizzed is destroyed by battle, I get to draw one card."

Grizelda said nothing at all, just looked at her with eyes that seemed to have no soul, the icy blue of her left eye looking as barren as the icy wasteland they were standing in, while her previously brown right eye seemed to have turned entirely black and unreadable.

"My turn," Miruna said, trying to shake off the unsettled feeling this Avatar was giving her. "I draw. And summon Acolyte of the Ice Barrier [1500/1000] in attack mode. I'll also activate the effect of my Cold Enchanter again, discarding my Ice Queen from my hand to add one more Ice Counter to Cold Enchanter, bringing his attack up to 2500. Now, I'll have all three of my monsters attack you! Cold Enchanter, eliminate her W-Wing Catapult!"

Grizelda's monster was destroyed and her LP dropped by 700 to 4300.

"Next," Miruna went on, "I'll have Ice Master and Acolyte of Ice Barrier attack you directly for grand total of 4000 points of damage!"

Grizelda let out a roar of pain and fury as the Solid Vision attacks hit her dead on and drove her to her knees. Her eyes were glassy now, and her whole body was shaking, the tremors spasming down her limbs.

"I end my turn," Miruna said softly, her uneasiness receding as regret began to grow in her heart; the outcome of a Distortion Duel, after all, rarely ended well for the Avatar if they lost.

But there was no choice. The distortions and anomalies couldn't be left unchecked. They had to be dealt with, and if the price was high...it was still better than the cost of doing nothing.

"My turn," Grizelda said, her voice no longer deep but thin and shaking; it seemed that whatever power had been boosting her energy before had deserted her, abandoning her to her fate. "I draw, and activate _my_ Monster Reborn Spell Card to bring back V-Tiger Jet [1600/1800] from the Graveyard. Luminous Spark raises its attack to 2100. Next, I'll activate the effect Heavy Mech Support Platform, which lets me equip Heavy Mech Support Platform to a face-up Machine-type monster on my side of the field; I'll equip it to V-Tiger Jet, which raises its attack by 500 points, giving it a total of 2600 ATK. Now, V-Tiger Jet, attack her Ice Master! Jet Blast!"

"Not so fast," Miruna said quickly. "I activate my Scrap-Iron Scarecrow Trap Card to negate your attack."

Grizelda let out a laugh that sounded extremely forced. "I end my turn," she said a moment later, as her laughter bubbled away into a wheezing gasp. "Make your move, princess."

"I draw," Miruna said in answer. "And activate Cold Enchanter's effect one final time, discarding the Mermaid Knight I just drew to place another Ice Counter and raise Cold Enchanter's attack by another 300 points, just enough to take out your V-Tiger jet! Go, Cold Enchanter!"

Grizelda shuddered as her LP dropped to 100, but she clenched her hands into fists and maintained her footing. "I activate Heavy Mech Support Platform's second effect; when a monster it's equipped to would be destroyed, this card can be destroyed instead."

"Still not good enough," Miruna countered. "Ice Master, finish her off! Attack and destroy her V-Tiger Jet once and for all!"

Grizelda let out a mournful cry as her LP dropped by more points than she had left to spare; she crumpled to the ground with a wail, her entire body shaking.

 _ **Final Score:**_

 _ **Miruna vs. Grizelda**_

 _ **[8000]-[0]**_.

Miruna waited until the Solid Vision holograms had completely cleared from the plaza, then stepped forward to where Grizelda had fallen. Maybe this time, if she got there quickly enough...

But it was no good. Just like all the other Avatars of Distortion she and Yukito had defeated in the past, Grizelda had collapsed and seemingly fallen into some sort of coma, as if losing the Duel and subsequently being cut off from the anomaly's energy hit some sort of internal shut down switch. Her heart was beating and she was breathing, but as Grizelda stared up sightlessly at the sky, her mismatched eyes completely empty of all intelligence and emotion, it was obvious that she wasn't _really_ there.

Miruna sighed, regret weighing down her heart even as she watched the shimmering patch of air that was the distortion itself shrink and vanish. She should have been happy, should have felt victorious...but all she had in her heart was sadness. It wasn't fair that this happened to the Avatars; by and large they were innocents, just people who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and gotten sucked into something beyond their understanding. It wasn't fair for them to suffer this fate for something so far beyond their control.

But then that was life, wasn't it? None of them deserved any of what had happened to them, yet it had happened all the same. And they could cry and moan and rage against the heavens about it all they wanted but it wouldn't change anything; all they could really do, in the end, was just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep going. Keep trying. Keep doing their best, even if it felt like their best would never be enough.

Miruna's personal mission, aside from investigating the anomalies and sealing the harmful distortions, was to someday find a way to help the Avatars. To bring them back from whatever abyss they'd fallen into within themselves and return them to their lives. She knew it was probably an impossible dream, but it was one she believed it, and desperately wanted to accomplish.

So she kept fighting, even when it hurt. Because she believed that one day, if they fought hard enough, they could create a world where there was no fighting at all.


	8. Chapter 8: Skylar Finally Wakes Up

_A/N: Remember how I mentioned a couple chapters ago that Irina was going to do something pretty stupid? Well, that time has arrived. XD And we also have some more canon characters making their entrances into the story, which is always fun. ;D_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Skylar Finally Wakes Up**

Skylar woke up feeling well-rested but extremely confused. She'd been sleeping peacefully, but then something had gone a little wonky and she'd ended up in a weird dream with dragons and wormholes and hysterical clowns. There had also been some sort of mirror house involved, but instead of her own reflection she'd been seeing different versions of Miruna and Yukito repeated over and over again.

So she rolled off her cot a little more groggily than she normally would have, her brain churning over the bizarre images that had cropped up in her dreams. Shaking her head, she quickly tugged on her boots and checked to make sure that her wig was on straight and that her fingerless gloves where covering the infinity symbols tattooed on the backs of her hands. Her contacts were still in place since she had idiotically forgotten to take them out before falling asleep; thankfully, she had a spare pair and swiftly switched them out, making a mental note to track down some more disinfecting solution sometime in the next week before since her current stock was running a bit low and she didn't want to go blind from an eye infection.

Once certain that she was properly outfitted, she slipped out of her room, stifling a yawn as she headed down the hall and rounded the corner into what had previously been the lobby but was now a common area of sorts.

She nearly tripped over her own feet, though, when she saw who was sitting at one of the battered plastic picnic tables, casually flipping through a tattered magazine that was two years out of date.

"Yukito!" she exclaimed, bolting across the room and tackling him in a hug. "You're back!"

He laughed, tossing down the old magazine and returning her embrace. "Yeah," he said, green eyes sparkling. "Runa and I got in this morning; we wanted to say hi, but Irina said you needed to rest."

Skylar made a face. "You could have woken me, I wouldn't have minded."

"You're already an overworking insomniac," Yukito said lightly, smiling at her fondly. "If you're actually asleep then no one in their right mind is going to wake you."

Skylar rolled her eyes. "I'm not _that_ bad," she said, wrinkling her nose at him. "Anyway, where _is_ Miruna? Normally you two are joined at the hip."

Yukito's smile faded slightly. "She got an anomaly alert a couple hours ago," he explained. "Irina had to go out on patrol at around the same time, so they left me here to babysit your...guest."

"Guest?" She echoed in confusion, then scowled as she remembered. "Ah, right. Him." She sighed heavily. "You realize he looks almost exactly like you, right?"

Yukito arched an eyebrow at her. "No, Skylar," he said sarcastically, "that little fact _completely_ escaped my notice. I spoke with him a bit after Miruna left," he went on more seriously. "Apparently he's from the Synchro Dimension, not Fusion like you were worried about."

"Synchro Dimension, huh..."

"He says his name's Yugo. And that he really didn't mean to end up here at all; apparently one of his Duel Monsters is dragging him across the dimensions for reasons unknown."

Skylar gave him a look loaded with skepticism. "Really."

Yukito shrugged. "That's what he says."

Skylar just shook her head. "Is it me," she asked, "or are things getting even weirder lately?"

"I might be the wrong person to ask," Yukito noted wryly, "since I spend most of my time investigating inexplicable distortions in the fabric of reality."

She smacked him lightly on the arm. "You know what I mean," she said chidingly.

He smiled faintly, then nodded. "I do," he agreed. "And yes, it does seem like things are...escalating. The Avatars of Distortion are becoming more erratic," he added. "Runa's worried that there might be something more going on."

"Something more than what?" Skylar asked in exasperation. "We don't even know what's actually going on _now_."

Yukito just shrugged. "I don't have any answers," he said. "And with every single day that passes I only have more and more questions. What's Academia really after? Why are these anomalies escalating? Why do Miruna and I have doppelgangers in other dimensions? How many other counterparts are there?" He shook his head. "And those are just the questions at the top of my list right now; you don't even want to _guess_ at the full list."

"Well," Skylar said, trying to force some lightness into her tone, "you always have been very curious."

Yukito snorted. "I suppose," he admitted, then looked at her intently. "Can I ask a favor?"

She blinked at him, surprised. "Of course you can, Yuki; you don't need to ask."

"Miruna's been gone a while now," he said without preamble. "She's probably fine, but I'm still worried. Can you catch up to her, make sure she's really okay?"

"I can," Skylar replied. "But wouldn't you rather go yourself?"

To her increased surprise, he shook his head. "I promised her that I'd stay put here and look after Yugo. And as worried as I might be, I would never dare break a promise to Runa; she'd eat me alive."

"You're so whipped," Skylar said with a laugh. "It's actually pretty adorable."

Yukito gave her a gentle shove towards the exit. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Red. Just wait until _you_ find someone who matters the world to you, see if you don't overreact to every single thing."

Skylar just snorted. "Like there's anyone in the world who'd put up with me," she remarked, then gave a wave as she kicked open the door. "Where was this latest anomaly?" she asked, hovering over the threshold.

"Somewhere by that old shopping district on the north side of town," Yukito replied.

"Nifty," Skylar replied, winking at him. "I'll go find Miruna and we'll be back in time for lunch."

* * *

Irina knew she shouldn't have been bringing her prisoner back to the boardinghouse. It was a really, _really_ bad idea.

But she didn't have any other choice. She couldn't take Cherise back to Infinitas headquarters; Giovanni would probably shoot the Academia soldier on sigh, or shove her off a building at the very least. Gio believed in interrogation, but never at home base.

Skylar, Irina knew, was probably not going to be any more pleased than Giovanni would have been; Skylar focused on the security and isolation of Fristad to the point of near-obsession. Once she learned of Irina bringing an Academia Duelist there, particularly an insane ex-Obelisk Force one, she was almost definitely going to flip her lid.

But there really was, in Irina's honest opinion, no other choice. They were low on information lately, and this Academia lunatic might have some inside knowledge that could prove useful to them somehow.

So she kept her prisoner bound and gagged, and dragged her all the way across the city to the Fristad boardinghouse, making sure to blindfold her as well before they got too close.

She found herself wishing that maybe Skylar had gone out on an errand of some sort, and as such wouldn't be around to flay Irina over her reckless kidnapping of an enemy Duelist.

To her immense surprise, though, that was actually exactly the case.

"Where's Skylar?" she asked Yukito curiously as she frog-marched her prisoner towards the hidden stairwell leading to the basement level of the building. "Still asleep?"

"No," Yukito said slowly, giving her a _what the hell_ look as he stood up and followed her downstairs into the heavy gloom of the underground floor; the only sound in the basement was the thrumming of the two generators they used for power, one on the north side of building and one on the south. "Runa's late getting back so I asked Skylar to go find her and make sure everything's okay." He reached out a hand and yanked her to a halt. "Irina, what's with the hostage," he demanded.

"We need information," she said defensively, pulling away and shoving Cherise into a small janitorial closet, still gagged and blindfolded. "This is the easiest way."

"Skylar," he replied evenly, "is going to _kill_ you. Seriously, Irina," he went on, "everyone's been talking about the fit she pitched when that Harold kid just _talked_ about luring someone from Academia back here...and yet here you are, willingly dragging one of the enemy in here? Are you out of your freaking mind?!"

"Relax," Irina snapped, kicking the door shut on Cherise and locking it from the outside. "I know what I'm doing."

* * *

"Yukito worries too much," Miruna complained, crossing her arms with a slight pout.

"He loves you," Skylar said with a laugh. "He's entitled to worry."

It hadn't actually taken Skylar long to find Miruna once she'd reached the general area Yukito had directed her towards; she'd always had an uncanny knack for locating her closest friends, so she just followed her instincts until she crossed paths with Miruna, who had been in the process of climbing down from what seemed to be snow-covered pile of wrecked cars.

Now, they were winding their way through what had previously been a block-wide parking garage; it had since collapsed into a bizarre series of caverns and sinkholes, resulting in a strange pseudo-marsh of sorts from the frequent rainstorms that had been pelting that area of the city recently.

"I get that," Miruna replied with an irritated huff, "but it's not like I can't take care of myself. And it's not like he doesn't know that!"

Skylar just shook her head in amusement. "I did mention the part where he loves you, right? Because I feel like maybe you're missing the bigger implications of that. Such as overprotective behavior and a general need to, you know, worry."

Miruna just grumbled some more, then opened her mouth to say something else, when suddenly a loud chirping sound cut her off. She glanced down with surprise at her Due Disk, which had popped up another alert.

"Another anomaly?" Skylar asked curiously. "I thought they were usually more spaced out than that?"

"Usually they are," Miruna muttered, tapping on her Disk's screen to pull of the information. "It's two blocks that way," she said, peering at the alert and frowning. "But...huh, that's weird."

"I know I'll probably regret asking this," Skylar noted dryly, "but what's weird?"

"The anomaly is reading like a low-level distortion, but it's not like anything I've ever seen before. It's not temporal or spatial or gravitational...It's not like anything at all, actually."

Skylar just stared at her blankly. "It has to be like something," she replied uncertainly, "doesn't it? I mean," she went on, "it's a real event, right? Your sensor's not just malfunctioning or something?"

Miruna shrugged. "It _could_ be an error of some sort," she said doubtfully, "but we should probably go check it out anyway. It could be something harmless, but better to investigate and be sure." Another ping popped up on her screen. "There's also some wormhole energy in that area," she observed. "That _definitely_ wasn't there before."

"Son of a bi-" Skyar broke off at Miruna chiding look; her friend was always trying to get her to curse less. "Biscuit-eating bulldog," she amended, rolling her eyes before turning serious again. "It could be new arrivals from the Fusion dimension," she said. "Now we _really_ need to check it out."

"Want to change first?" Miruna asked, looking pointedly at her long dark, and fake, hair.

"No time," Skylar said at once, shaking her head. "If it is a new group from Academia, I want to deal with them now, before they have a chance to cause any serious trouble."

Miruna looked worried, but nodded. "Let's hurry, then," she said.

They broke into a sprint, winding their way through the rubble of the parking garage and wading through the parts that were too flooded to bypass quickly. As they got closer and closer to the source of the mysterious anomaly, Skylar's heart-rate went up, as if in anticipation.

What they saw had Skylar tripping over herself for the second time that day.

It was a group of four young men. The youngest, a pale boy in a hoodie, seemed to be around seven or eight, while the next youngest kid had hair like a tomato and seemed to be fourteen or thereabouts. The other two, one with pale hair and glasses and the other with gold eyes and dark teal hair, seemed to be in their upper teen years, maybe sixteen or seventeen.

There was also, Skylar noticed as she squinted through the haze, one more figure, slightly behind the boy with the red and green hair; he, like Yugo and this latest addition, looked almost exactly like Yukito, but with spikier hair and stormy gray eyes. She couldn't make out the rest of his appearance; though; it was like he was out of focus somehow...maybe there was some dirt or something in her contact lenses that was affecting her vision?

"They're not from Academia," Miruna noted after a moment of tense silence as the other group spotted them as well and gave them an equally hostile and suspicious once-over.

"Who are you?" Skylar called out, readying her Duel Disk just in case this turned out to be a trap of some sort.

The little group huddled close together for a moment as if discussing what to do, then the pale haired teenager stepped forward; he was, if Skylar wasn't mistaken, the leader of the group.

"My name is Reiji Akaba," he said, his voice carrying across the distance clearly. "These are my companions Yuya Sakaki and Shun Kurosaki, and my brother," he gestured to the young boy clinging to his side, "Reira." He glanced over his shoulder at his friends before speaking again. "We apologize for our intrusion into your world," he said after a moment, "but we were caught up in a wormhole unexpectedly and this seems to be the result."

"Just like Yugo," Miruna said before she could think better of it.

The one called Yuya looked over at them suddenly, his excitement almost tangible. "You know Yugo?" he asked, eyes wide and hopeful.

"He showed up like you did," Skylar explained. "But his arrival wasn't quite so easy."

"He ran into an Academia patrol," Miruna went on. "If Sk-Scarlett hadn't intervened, he might not have made it."

"Scarlett?" Yuya echoed, looking confused. "Who...?"

"Academia," the one called Shun Kursaki said in a low voice, ignoring his companion's question, looking angry. "So they've made it here, too."

"What dimension _is_ this?" Yuya asked suddenly, looking around with a faint scowl. "It's not mine, and it's not the Synchro Dimension, either." He glanced at the shadowy figure behind him. "It's not Xyz, is it?"

The spiky-haired figure shook his head just as Kurosaki answered.

"Don't be stupid," he snapped irritably. "We just came from there."

"I'm just wondering!" Yuya said, huffing in annoyance.

Reiji, meanwhile, had a thoroughly unreadable look on his face. "What," he said, directing his attention back to Miruna and Skylar, "do _you_ call this dimension?"

"Home," Skylar replied simply. "At least...what's left of it. But those bastards from Academia call it the Null Dimension."

"Null," Reiji murmured. "I see..." He shook his head. "Interesting," he remarked, then glanced at his companions again before looking back to Skylar. "I don't suppose you'd know of someplace where the four of us could rest for the night? I know it's an imposition, but we seem to be on the same side, so..."

Skylar exchanged a look with Miruna. "We might have a place," she answered slowly, running over the pros and cons in her mind. "But," she added absently, "don't you mean the five of you?"

Everyone present, Miruna included, stared at her in confusion.

Reiji looked around at his friends as if counting them to make sure they were all present and accounted for. "There's just the four of us," he said, expression unreadable.

Skylar scowled. "No," she said in annoyance, "there are five." She gestured to the figure by Yuya, the one who must have been another dimensional counterpart of some sort.

Miruna tugged on her elbow, starting to looked faintly alarmed. "Skylar," she hissed, "there's no one there."

Skylar turned to her friend with a baffled frown. "What are you talking about?" she demanded in exasperation, pointing again at the last teenager. "He's right there!"

"Skylar," Miruna said again, her tone insistent and full of worry, "there is no one there!"

Skylar made a sound of extreme frustration, beyond fed up with this ridiculousness. "He's standing right there!" she snapped, pointing again. "The short-stack with the purple hedgehog hair!"

Utter silence descended as Yuya and Kurosaki both froze in place, eyes widening in shock as if she'd suddenly said something incredibly important.

"You can see him?" Yuya asked after a long moment, his voice so soft that it could barely be heard.

"See who?" Miruna asked, looking equals parts aggravated and perplexed.

It was Shun Kurosaki who answered.

"Yuto," he said.


	9. Chapter 9: Skylar Comes Home to a Mess

_A/N: This chapter mostly involves the fallout of Irina bringing Cherise (the Academia Duelist she defeated a little while ago) back to Fristad and how utterly ticked off Skylar is when she finds out._

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Skylar Meets the Lancers and Comes Home to a Mess**

* * *

"I am," Skylar said, " _so_ confused."

"Me, too," muttered Miruna, staring intensely at Yuya as if hoping that clarification for the bizarre tale they'd just heard could be found written on his forehead.

"I assure you," said Reiji Akaba, leader of the Lancers, "it's all the truth."

Miruna pursed her lips. "Run me through that last bit again," she requested. "The part where Skylar can see someone who isn't there."

"But he is there," Skylar retorted hotly. "He. Is. Standing. Right. _There_."

Miruna just gave her a look.

"We're not really sure what happened," Yuya said quickly, giving a bright smile as if trying to diffuse the tension hanging in the air. "Yuto was - _is_ \- my Xyz counterpart; your friend Yukito's, too, I guess," he added hesitantly, "if he's the same way."

"He is," Miruna said, her facial expression inscrutable.

Yuya just nodded. "He sort of...lost a Duel," he went on uncertainly, his voice unsure as if he was feeling his way in uncharted waters. "He took a really bad Solid Vision hit from a super strong monster and...well, we really have no idea how it happened but he sort of...merged with me. Or something. I don't know."

"And when exactly were you planning to tell _me_ this?" Kurosaki demanded.

"I thought you already knew!" Yuya protested. "Yuto said he'd made contact!"

"You still should have told me," he snapped. "I thought my best friend had _died_! And that you'd stolen his cards!"

"I'd never steal Yuto's cards!" Yuya shouted, getting angry in turn now.

"How was I supposed to know that when you didn't tell me anything?!"

"Good grief," Miruna said under her breath as she eyed the escalating debate. "They're worse than you and Irina."

Skylar just made a noncommittal sound, her attention focused on the figure only she could see. "Are you real?" she asked him dubiously.

"I feel real," Yuto replied. "Definitely not the same," he admitted with a sigh. "But also not dead, so..."

"But why is it only I can see you?" she wondered.

The phantom that was Yuto shrugged. "I don't even understand how this happened in the first place."

"Fair point," she conceded, then noticed the strange look that Miruna was giving her. "What?"

"It is extremely disturbing," her friend informed her, "to see you carrying on a conversation with an empty patch of air."

Skylar threw her hands up in utter exasperation. "For the last time, he's right there!"

"I didn't say that I didn't believe you," Miruna said hastily. "I just said that it was weird."

"Everything's weird lately," Skylar grumbled. "It's really not-" A red screen flashed up on her Duel Disk accompanied by a ringing alarm sound. "Uh-oh. Now what?"

"What's wrong?" Yuya asked, eyes wide as her Disk flashed and wailed.

"I'm not sure," Skylar said, then cursed as she opened the alert. "One of the Fristad generators has gone offline. What the hell?!" She spun on her heel and bolted off, anxiety radiating off of her in waves.

"Skylar, wait up!" Miruna exclaimed, running after her friend.

"Let's go with them," Yuya said, glancing at Reiji. "They might need help."

"Or," Kurosaki said, "it could be a trap."

"They looked really worried," Yuya countered. "I don't think it's a trick." He nodded to himself. "I'm going," he declared, and then raced off after the two girls.

"That kid," Kurosaki grumbled, but followed after him, Reiji and Reira bringing up the rear at a less frantic pace.

* * *

"So let me see if I have this right," Skylar said, working hard to keep her voice calm and level even as she stared back and forth between the charred and smoking remains of their northern generator, Yukito who had an ice pack pressed against the lump on his head, and Irina who was fidgeting guiltily but trying to look impassive. "Not only did you bring an Academia Duelist here, to the boardinghouse, without my permission and against my standing orders to never do so, you brought them here as a prisoner for later interrogation. You locked this person," she went on, ignoring the unintended audience of Lancers that had accompanied them back to Fristad, "this apparently psychotic ex-Obelisk Force Duelist _in a closet._ Because clearly," she added sarcastically, "an elite soldier lacks the capacity to escape from a small dark space."

Irina flushed. "Skylar, I-"

"I'm not done," she said sharply, and Irina wilted. "Now, totally unsurprisingly, the prisoner gets loose from her bonds and breaks out of the closet. _Then_ she clubbed Yukito over the head, knocked him out, and stole his Deck." She paused and glanced over to where Miruna knelt by her boyfriend's side. "How's he doing?"

"Too early to tell," Miruna said worriedly, chewing on her lip. "I think he should be okay, but we'll need to keep an eye on him until we're sure that there's no internal bleeding or anything."

"Oh, joy," Yukito muttered, cradling his head in his hands. "Yugo and I can be concussion buddies."

"So now Yuki's out of action," Skylar added. "Doubly so, actually, until we can get his Deck back. And to top things off," she said, giving a wide very-not-happy smile, "this Academia psycho sabotaged and destroyed _one of our critical generators_. Do I need to remind you," she asked testily, "that we only had the two to begin with and even with those we were having trouble keeping things running? At the rate we're going," she tacked on angrily, "the one generator we have left now is going to give out from the strain of supporting the entire building. We'll be back to square one, Irina! No electricity, which means no lights, no refrigeration. No heating or air conditioning for when the weather gets hostile. And my personal favorite," she added with a grimace, "no plumbing of any kind because the underground pump system _runs on electrical power._ " She threw her hands up into the air. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

Irina shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said weakly. "I didn't think...I was just so frustrated with how little information we have...I thought if we could interrogate Cherise, then..."

"Then what?" Skylar asked scathingly. "She'd just spill all her secrets and we'd sally forth to a glorious victory against the enemy?"

"I'm sorry," Irina said again.

"And I'm angry," Skylar replied. "You've put everyone in the boardinghouse in danger. Irina, you _know_ how hard I've worked to keep this place a sanctuary, like the name says. How could you take such a stupid risk?" She shook her head. "If you want to take prisoners, fine. If you want to beat the shit out of them until they tell you what you want to hear, fine. But do _not_ bring them here. This is supposed to be a safe place, and now it isn't.

"I'm really sorry," Irina repeated, eyes shining with tears. "I should have talked to you first."

"You're damn right you should have," Skylar said, crossing her arms.

"I hate to interrupt such an impressive tirade," Reiji remarked suddenly, "but what's your next move going to be? Evacuation?"

Skylar shook her head. "No. Our location _is_ compromised, but we can't leave," she said unhappily. "There's nowhere else for us to go. And we've got orphaned children to take care of, and some wounded residents who can't be moved right now. Like your friend Yugo," she added.

"Yugo's here?" Yuya asked excitedly, then paled as he processed the rest of her statement. "Yugo's _hurt_?!"

"I'll take you to see him later," Miruna told him reassuringly. "He's doing okay, just a little banged up."

"A lot banged up," Skylar corrected. "Broken bones and cannot-be-evacuated banged up. And he's not the only one, so leaving is just really not an option; I won't leave people behind, so either we all go or no one goes."

"We need to talk to Giovanni," Yukito mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "See if w can coordinate with some of the roving scout teams, get them to centralize their patrols in this area for extra security."

"I'll talk to him," Skylar said in agreement. "We'll need to find a way to get your Deck back fast, too," she added.

Yukito just nodded. "Yeah."

His Deck, while not immediately impressive at first glance, just a fire-themed Deck, contained one very special monster card that none of them wanted Academia to have. Hopefully, they'd be able to get his Deck back before Cherise realized what she had.

"Okay, then..." Skylar nodded to herself. "Action time it is. You," she jabbed a finger at Irina, "stay here and see if there's anything you can do with the generator. I want a full status report by the time the rest of us get back."

Irina nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Skylar spun around and fixed the three Lancers in an assessing look. "You wanted me to believe what you've told me so far," she said to them. "To trust you. Here's your chance to prove to me why I should."

Reiji arched an eyebrow but looked back at her in consideration. "Go on."

"Me and mine are in a tough spot," she said. "We're already spread thin as it is, so we could use some back-up if you're willing."

Reiji remained thoughtfully silent for what felt like an eternity before he finally nodded. "We'll help you," he said. "What do you need?"

"I need someone to stay here and keep an eye on things while I take a group out to track Cherise and get back Yukito's Deck. You're the leader of the Lancers, right? So you're used to wrangling people?"

"Wrangling," Reiji said with a smirk. "That's a very appropriate term. Yes, I'm familiar with leadership. My brother and I will stay here while you and the others go out."

"Thanks," she said, flashing him a small grateful smile before heading for the exit, glancing back over her shoulder as she went. "What are the rest of you idiots waiting for? Let's go!"

* * *

 _A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! A bit shorter than usual, sorry. The next chapter ought to be longer. Maybe. Possibly. XD_


	10. Chapter 10: Giovanni

**Chapter 10: Giovanni**

* * *

"So...who are we going to see?" Yuya asked as they traipsed across the ruins of the previously spectacular Summerland City.

"Giovanni," Skylar explained. "He runs the day-to-day operations of Infinitas, our anti-Academia resistance organization."

"But you mentioned someone else earlier," Kurosaki remarked. "Scarla?"

"Scar _lett_ ," Miruna corrected, slanting an amused look at Skylar. "And yeah, she's the main leader of Infinitas. But she's got a lot on her plate at the moment, and she's not always able to check in on everything herself, so Gio takes care of things for her when she's too busy."

"She's too busy to be involved with her own resistance group?" Kurosaki asked, looking vaguely aggravated.

Skylar opened her mouth to snap back a retort, reminded herself that doing so might blow her cover, and shut her mouth again. "Things are complicated," she said instead. "For now, all you need to know if that Giovanni can help us track down Cherise."

"This," Kurosaki said in disbelief when they finally reached their destination, "is your resistance headquarters?"

"You got something against an extremely secure storage facility as a base?" Skylar asked, arching an eyebrow at him as she typed in the entry code for the front gate. "Is it the high fences that are off-putting to you," she went on dryly, "or the sturdy buildings that can take a licking and keep on ticking?"

He shot her an annoyed look. "I'm not saying it's a _bad_ location," he replied. "It just surprised me. It's actually a pretty good location," he admitted after a moment, his gaze drifting around as they trekked around the complex; his sharp eyes took note of how they'd cleared out many of the central buildings, relocating the contents of those storage units and turning the spaces into living quarters and supply rooms for the members of Infinitas.

"We can't always manage it, but we try to keep most of the living quarters limited to the interior units," Skylar explained, noticing his curious look. "Because while the buildings are secure against physical damage, they don't have anything in the way of heating for cold nights or AC for hot days. We do have on generator installed that's actually working without any serious complications, so there's enough electricity to run little old-school space heaters and some basic lightning, but it's still pretty bare bones here."

"I've seen worse," Kurosaki commented, and it actually sounded like sort of a compliment.

So she gave a wry half-smile in return before leading them into Building G and then down the hall to unti G-37, which was the main strategy and meeting room where Giovannia, Irina, and Skylar as Scarlett held their meetings, usually with Yukito and Miruna in attendance, because they were just as important to the resistance effort as the founders of Infinitas.

"Hey, Gio," Skylar said as she yanked up the rolling door with a rattle and waved to the tall dark-haired man who was bent over an old map of the city.

"Hiya, Sc-" He broke off abruptly as Kurosaki and Yuya followed her inside, along with Miruna and Yukito who had refused to be left behind. "Skylar," he amended, glancing at her long wig for a moment as if using it as a visual cue for reminding himself not to spill the beans on her identity. "What brings you here? And with new friends, too."

"Sorry for the unexpected company," she offered with a shrug, glancing at Yuya and Kurosaki, "but we're dealing with some trouble right now and having them around could come in handy. Yuya, Kurosaki, this is Giovannia deLuca. Gio, this Yuya Sakaki and his teammate Shun Kurosaki; they're from another dimension."

Giovanni's eyebrows shot up and he looked at the two Lancers with increased interest. "Another dimension, huh?"

"Not Fusion," Miruna said hastily, giving Giovanni a reassuring smile. "Yuya's from Standard and Kurosaki's from Xyz."

"Or so they say," Yukito tacked on, his suspicious tendencies apparently amped up from the recent knock upside the head; Skylar couldn't blame him, really. Being jumped from behind and knocked out while someone stole her Deck would have upped her paranoia, too.

Giovanni, meanwhile, was looking at Yukito in concern. "Your color's a bit off," he commented. "You feelin' okay?"

"I've felt better," Yukito replied, a wry smile curving his lips. "But Runa says I'm well enough to run around and stir up some trouble."

"Oh, really? How weird," Miruna cut in, "because I'm pretty sure I remember saying that you should _rest_ and _take it easy_."

Yukito rolled his eyes. "I can't sit around and do nothing while some psycho is running around with my Deck."

Giovanni made a faint sound of alarm. "Someone took your Deck?" he asked in disbelief.

"Knocked me out and stole it from my Disk," Yukito confirmed, looking disgusted with himself.

"Wasn't your fault," Miruna said softly, squeezing his hand gently. "You trusted Irina to have secured her properly. There was no way of knowing she'd escape."

"She was trapped in a _closet_ ," Skylar said irritably. "There was every way of knowing she'd escape."

Giovanni now looked complete lost. "How about you guys start from the beginning," he suggested, "and fill me in on the whole story."

So they did, walking him through how they'd rescued Yugo and brought him back to Fristad, and how Miruna and Yukito had returned not long after. And then they told him about Irina's ill-fated patrol that had led to her bringing the Academia operative Cherise back to Fristad as a prisoner of war. Then they wrapped up their tale with how they'd met the four Lancers and returned home to find one of their generators offline and an ex-Obelisk Force psycho on the loose with Yukito's Deck.

"You have," Gio remarked once they'd finished their tale, "really uncanny timing."

Skylar frowned. "How so?"

"Because I was actually just about to send a messenger to tell you that we'd seen an Academia Duelist, one who happens to match the description of your escaped prisoner no less, meeting with that scavenger guy we've had our eye on...what's his name? Johnny, Jory?"

"Joseph," Skylar corrected automatically, then scowled. "What's one of Erik's scavengers doing working with someone from Academia?"

Giovanni shrugged. "Hell if I know. You're probably going to have to talk to Joseph's boss himself if you want any real answers."

Skylar made a face. "Great. Because this day hasn't sucked enough already." She sighed. "Alright, well, we'll get going, then. Let me know if you hear anything useful?"

"Of course," Giovanni said at once, then grabbed Yukito by the arm as he turned to go. "Here, Yuki," he said. "Take this."

Yukito glanced down at the stack of cards he now had in his hand. "Gio, this is _your_ Deck."

"I know it is," Giovanni replied easily. "But I'm not going anywhere today and you can't go up against the scavengers unarmed."

"I appreciate the thought," Yukito said slowly, "but I have no idea how to win with your Deck."

Gio gave a lopsided smile. "That's fine," he said lightly. "I have the same problem some days. I just want you to have something to Duel with in case things go sideways," he added more seriously, "even if it's an Archetype that doesn't match your usual playing style."

Yukito frowned at him for a moment longer, then nodded at last. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "I'll get it back to your as soon as possible."

Giovanni clapped him on the shoulder. "Be careful out there," was all he said in response, then turned his attention back to the map he'd been studying when they'd first arrived. "Things are getting crazy out there."


	11. Chapter 11: Diversions & Confrontations

**Chapter 11: Diversions and Confrontations**

* * *

"Who is this boss we're going to go talk to?" Yuya asked, jogging to keep pace with Skylar's quick steps as she led the way through the deserted streets of Summerland City.

"His name is Erik," she replied. "He calls himself a commodity broker."

Yuya's brow furrowed in confusion. "A what now?"

"It means he stockpiles items that other people want and trades them for things he wants," she answered. "People sometimes call him the scavenger king."

"Basically," Miruna said, adding on to Skylar's explanation, "he and his guys go scavenging all across the city, collecting things that people want but can't get themselves. Then they barter those things to the people who need them."

"I'm pretty sure that he was a loan shark in a past life or something," Yukito commented, idly flipping through the cards of his borrowed Deck as if familiarizing himself with them. "Talk about shady."

"We don't have any other options," Skylar pointed out. "I don't like it either, but he should be able to tell us where Joseph is."

"But only if we get past his guard first," Miruna noted sourly as they approached the warehouse Erik operated out of and saw a big burly bouncer with a Duel Disk strapped to his meaty wrist blocking the entrance.

"Someone will have to distract him," Kurosaki noted. "A Duel would probably keep him occupied long enough for the rest of us to get inside and confront this Erik person."

"Yeah," Skylar said with a sigh. "And I hate to say it, Yuki, but I think it needs to be you."

"Why me?" Yukito demanded, looking annoyed.

"Because that's Raimundo, isn't it?" she said, pointing to the burly guard. "The same Raimundo who you totally creamed the last time you Dueled him? Who then went on to swear that the next time he saw you there would be a rematch the likes of which has never been seen in this world?"

Yukito cursed under his breath. "So you want me to do a rematch against someone who has a grudge against me. While I'm stuck using a Deck that I'm unfamiliar with."

"That's about the size of it," Skylar said cheerfully. "Yeah."

Yukito let out a low groan. "Okay, fine," he said at last, reluctance clear in his face. "But you'd better come rescue me once you're done pummeling Erik for answers."

"Deal," Skylar said.

* * *

"What's our plan," Yuya asked nervously as they snuck in through a side door of the warehouse while Yukito lured Raimundo away from his post to Duel, "for when we get inside and meet with this Erik guy?"

"Well," Skylar said in a low voice, picking the lock on the door and elbowing it open carefully, "I was thinking I'd start by asking him if he knows where Joseph is."

"And he's just going to tell you?" Kurosaki asked skeptically.

"Of course not," she replied. "Step Two of my master plan is to Duel it out of him."

"Erik's been wanting to Duel against Skylar for a while," Miruna explained, seeing the frowns on their companions' faces. "He's never seen her Deck, and that seems to bug him a little; he's the sort of guy who likes to know as much as he can about all the players."

"About all the potential _threats_ , you mean," Skylar muttered, checking her Disk to make sure her Naturia Deck was in place. "Although I honestly don't know what he's got against me...I've never made a move against him, and we've actually done business a time or two when we needed supplies for the boardinghouse."

"But _Scarlett's_ against him," Miruna said, expression neutral and her voice casually light. "And everyone knows that you work with Scarlett, so-"

"Wait, hold on a second," Kurosaki interrupted, "you work with Scarlett? The resistance leader?"

"There's no one else who knows her better," Skylar replied, stifling her snicker of amusement; it was the little moments like these that kept her entertained with her double life.

"Can you get us a meeting with her?" Kurosaki pressed, a severe look on his face. "If we can make contact with Infinitas-"

"You've already made contact with Infinitas," Skylar said, rolling her eyes. "You've met me, Irina, Miruna, Yukito, _and_ Giovanni. We're all high-ranking members of the resistance movement."

"But you're not the _leader_ ," Kurosaki countered.

 _Actually_ , Skylar wanted to say, _I am_. But instead she just shook her head. "Scarlett's gone dark," she replied. "No one knows when she'll pop up again."

"What? You mean she's disappeared?"

She gave a slight shrug. "She goes underground from time to time; she's on Academia's Most Wanted list for our dimension, so it's really not so surprising. But she'll be back eventually. Until then," she added, "you'll just have to make do with me and my friends."

Kurosaki just scowled, not seeming to like her answers.

Well, whatever. Skylar decided to just ignore him. She had bigger problems to worry about now, anyway. Like Erik, who they found lounging in his "throne room" as he called it; when they entered, he was reclining in an old armchair that had been decorated with expensive looking blankets and scarves, giving the previously dull piece of furniture an exotic appearance.

"Well, well, well," Erik said when he saw then enter. "To what do I owe the honor of this visit?" His glanced roved over their entire motley group before settling on Skylar. "Don't you have a homeless shelter to run?" he asked snidely.

She bit her tongue to keep her initial response silent. "Things are well-enough on the home-front right now," she replied brightly, flashing a wide smile that she definitely didn't feel. "But there is one small problem we have that I was hoping you could help us with."

"Oh?" Erik arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow. "And what problem would that be?"

"One of your scavengers," she said, "has stolen a Deck from one of my residents. I consider this unacceptable, and would like to know where I can find this miscreant so I can retrieve the Deck and return it to its rightful owner."

"Hmmmm," Erik answered. "I don't know. My scavengers don't steal Decks, cupcake. You must have misidentified him."

"Bullshit," she snapped. "I keep track of your people just like you keep track of mine, Erik, and you well know it."

Erik gave a dramatic sigh. "Very well, then," he said, looking bored. "Who was this pathetic sod you claim stole your friend's Deck?"

"Joseph Walsh," she answered at once.

Erik's eyes widened and he said nothing.

"Let me guess," Miruna said dryly, speaking for the first time since they'd entered. "You've had some trouble with him recently, too?"

Erik's mouth turned down into a scowl. "Perhaps," he acknowledged. "But even so, I can't go divulging the personal information of my employees to any old bum who asks. Information," he went on, "like all valuable goods, comes at a price."

 _And here comes the bartering_ , Skylar thought, irritated and relieved all at once. Irritated, because a decent human being would have just given her the information she wanted, to make things right; it was, after all, someone in Erik's employ who had stolen the Deck to begin with. But there was relief, too, because if they'd moved on to bartering, then Erik was at least going to give them something to work with, as long as they met his price. "What do you want?" she asked.

A sly smile crossed the scavenger king's face. "What I always want from you Skylar," he said lightly. "A Duel, so that I can finally understand how it is a kowtowing little mouse like you keeps Academia from razing your precious boardinghouse to the ground." He leaned back in his chair, clearly expecting her to refuse, as she had done so many times in the past.

But she was done playing games; they needed to get Yukito's Deck back as soon as possible and if trouncing Erik at Duel Monsters sped up that process, so much the better. "I accept your challenge," she said calmly.

There was a long moment of silence as Erik seemed to struggle to comprehend that. "You do?" he said, disbelief clear in his voice.

"I do," she agreed evenly. "So why don't you come on down from that little throne of yours and impress me, Erik."

A real grin, the kind that comes from anticipation, crossed his face as he jumped to his feet and hopped down off the dais to join them. "This is going to be fun," he said.

"I'll go first," she said, "if you don't mind."

"Of course, of course," Erik said easily, slipping his Duel Disk onto his arm. "Ladies first, of course, always."

Skylar snorted. "Of course."

"Duel!" they shouted.

 _ **Skylar vs Erik**_

 _ **[8000]-[8000]**_

"My move," Skylar said, drawing her first card. "I'll summon one monster face-down in defense mode, set one more card face-down, and end my turn."

"I draw," Erik replied, "and activate my Continuous Spell Card, Burden of the Mighty, which will cause each of your monsters to lose 100 ATK for each Level it has. Next, I'll summon X-Saber Airbellum [1600/200] in ATK mode and have it attack your face-down monster.

"Nice try," Skylar said as her monster flipped face-up. "But my Prickle Fairy's DEF is 2000, meaning _you_ lose 400 LP from the attack. Also, because of Prickly Fairy's effect, your monster is switched to defense mode.

"I end my turn," Erik said flatly, brows drawing down into a faint scowl.

"I draw," Skylar replied, and did so. "Then I'll summon Naturia Hostneedle [1800/100] in attack mode. It's ATK goes down because of your Spell Card, but since all I need to do is beat your Airbellum's DEF of 200, that's just fine. Hostneedle, attack!"

X-Saber Airbellum was destroyed in a flash of light and a burst of pixels, leaving Erik with no monsters in play.

"I end my turn," Skylar said.

"My move, then," Erik answered. "I draw, and activate Monster Reborn to bring back my X-Saber Airbellum."

"I activate Pollinosis," Skylar countered. "By sacrificng my Prickle Fairy, I can negate the activation of your Spell Card."

Erik ground his teeth but pushed forward. "Fine," he said irritably. "I'll just summon Don Zaloog [1400/1500] in attack mode, then, and end my turn."

"I draw," Skylar said. "I'll summon on monster face-down, set one other card face-down, and then attack Don Zaloog with Naturia Hostneedle!"

"They have the same ATK!" Erik exclaimed, eyes widening in shock. "They'll _both_ be destroyed!"

"I"m aware of that," Skyalr said mildly, transferring Hostneedle to the Graveyard as it was destroyed along with X-Saber Airbellum. "I end my turn."

"I draw," Erik said with a fierce frown, looking both angry and confused by her last move. "I summon another Don Zaloog to the field in attack mode and have him attack your face-down monster."

"Naturia Beetle," Skylar said as her monster flipped over, "has a DEF of 1800, more than your Don Zaloog's ATK, costing you 400 LP."

Erik was now beginning to look genuinely aggravated. "I end my turn."

"I draw," Skylar replied, "and activate the Field Spell Gaia Power, which also triggers the effect of Naturia Beetle: its ATK and DEF switch every time I activate a Spell Card. So, its attack goes down from the effect of _your_ Spell Card, but then goes up again thanks to Gaia Power, leaving it with 1900 ATK. Next, I'll switch my Beetle to attack mode and also summon Naturia Cliff [1500/1000] in atack mode. Because of your Burden of the Mighty, his ATK drops to 1100; thanks to my Gaia Power, though, his attack goes back up to 1600! Now, Naturia Cliff, attack Don Zaloog!"

Erik flinched as the attack destroyed his monster and dropped his LP to 7000.

"Now," Skylar continued, "Naturia Beetle, attack him directly!"

Erik stumbled as the direct attack hit him dead on, knocking his LP down to 5100.

"I end my turn," Skylar said, a smile beginning to form at the edges of her mouth.

"Wow," Yuya commented from the sidelines. "She's really pretty good, huh?"

"When she's serious," Miruna replied, "yeah."

"Is she not always serious?" Kurosaki asked, wearing his usual impassive frown as he watched the Duel.

" _Now_ she is," Miruna replied. "She doesn't have any choice; none of us do."

"Since Academia attacked, you mean," Kurosaki said.

Miruna just nodded. "Yeah."

"My move," Erik declared, drawing his next card. "I summon another X-Saber Airbellum in attack mode. Its ATK goes up to 2100 thanks to your Gaia Power's effect. X-Saber Airbellum, attack her Naturia Beetle!"

Skylar winced as her monster was destroyed and her LP took a 200 point hit.

"I end my turn," Erik finished, looking pleased with himself.

"I draw," Skylar said, "and summon Naturia Dragonfly [1200/400] in attack mode; Dragonfly's ATK ends up at 1700 after all the Spell effects apply. Next, I'll move Naturia Cliff into defense mode and end my turn."

"My turn," Erik said, drawing a card. "I'll Tribute my monster to Special Summon Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch [2400/1000] in attack mode. Thanks to his special effect, I can have you randomly discard one card in your hand. Next," he went on, "I'll activate Big Bang Shot to raise Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch's ATK to 2800! Now, Thestalos, destroy her Naturia Cliff! And thanks to the secondary effect of Big Bang Shot," he added, "you take piercing damage equal to the difference between my monster's attack and your monster's defense!"

Skylar gasped as the attack blew through her monster and blasted straight into her, knocking her to her knees.

 _ **Skylar vs. Erik**_

 _ **[5300]-[5100]**_

"I activate Naturia Cliff's special effect," Skylar panted, staggering to her feet with a determined look. "When Naturia Cliff is sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Naturia monster from my Deck to the field in face-up attack position. I select Naturia Spiderfang, whose stats end up at 2200 ATK and 0 DEF once all the Spells take effect."

"Woohoo!" Yuya cheered. "Good rebound, Skylar!"

She flashed him a grateful half-smile; she wasn't used to being cheered for, but it felt kind of nice.

A furious tic beat in Erik's jaw as he glared at her. "I end my turn," he said sullenly.

"And I take mine," Skylar replied, drawing her next card. "I'll set one card face-down and summon one monster in face-down defense mode, while also moving Naturia Spiderfang and Naturia Dragonfly to defense mode. With that, I'll end my turn."

Erik's smug smile returned. "Looks like I have you on the run after all," he crowed. "I draw. Now, Thestalos, attack!"

"Not so fast," Skylar said. "I activate my Trap Card, Spell-binding Circle, which freezes your monster! Now, it can't attack _or_ change position."

"Ugh," Erik said in disgust. "My attack's canceled, then, huh? Fine! I'll Tribute my Thestatols to Special Summon another monster, in face-down defense mode. I end my turn."

Skylar narrowed her eyes at him; what monster would he have Tribute Summoned only to play it in defense mode? Was this a trick of some sort? _Well, whatever._ "I draw, and summon Naturia Sunflower in attack mode; its ATK becomes 800 after Burden of the Mighty and Gaia Power go into effect. I'll also move Naturia Spiderfang and Naturida Dragonfly back into attack position. Now, Naturia Dragonfly, attack his face-down monster!"

As the card was obliterated, it turned out to be just another Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, which came as a relief to Skylar, who was worried about it being another, more powerful, monster.

"Next," she continued, "I'll have Naturia Sunflower attack you directly for 800 points of damage, and then end my turn."

 _ **Skyler vs. Erik**_

 _ **[5300]-[4300]**_

"I draw," Erik said. "And play one monster face-down, then end my turn."

"MY move," Skylar said, drawing a card. "I'll summon Naturia Rock [1200/1200] in attack mode, and attack your face-down monster!"

"I activate Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu's flip effect!" Erik shouted. "I get to select one Equip Spell from my Deck and add it to my hand-"

"Not so fast," Skylar interrupted. "I activate the effect of my Naturia Sunflower: by Tributing one of my Naturia monsters, I can negate a monster's effect and destroy it! For my Tribute, I'll select the other Naturia Sunflower that I had face-down. And your Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu is destroyed!"

Erik let out a shout of angry frustration. "You-!"

But Skylar talked right over him. "Now, where was I before you interrupted? Oh, right. Naturia Dragonfly, attack him directly! And thanks to Dragonfly's special ability," she added gleefully, "its ATK has gone up to 2500 thanks to the Naturia Sunflower I Tributed to cancel your flip effect."

Erik's shout turned to one of pain as the Solid Vision attack slammed into him and knocked his LP down by 2500, leaving him with only 1800 LP.

"I end my turn," Skylar finished, giving a wide grin as Yuya jumped up and down in excitement even as Miruna and Kurosaki shook their heads in exasperation over his childish antics.

Erik clenched his jaw so tensely that it was a wonder he didn't crack a tooth. "I draw," he said sullenly, and then scowled further as he saw whatever card he had drawn. "I'll set one card face-down, and end my turn." He shook his head, looking angry and impressed all at once. "Good fight, Emerson," he said grdugingly.

"It's not over yet," she felt obligated to point out.

He gave a wry smile. "So hurry up and end it, then. I think it's clear who the winner is."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, then shrugged. "My move," she said, drawing a card. "Naturia Dragonfly," she went on, "attack him directly and finish him off!"

The attack blasted across the Duel area , knocking Erik off his feet even as it wiped out the rest of his LP.

 _ **Final Score:**_

 _ **Skylar [5300]-Erik[0]**_

Erik struggled to his feet a moment later, laughing weakly as he deactivated his Duel Disk. "Guess you're not quite as helpless as I thought," he remarked, wiping some sweat from his brow.

She gave a faint smile. "Don't feel bad," she offered. "Most people think I'm a pushover and quite frankly it suits me just fine if they do. Makes it easier to kick their asses when the time comes," she added slyly.

Erik chuckled. "I can see how that would appeal," he noted, then sighed. "I can't give you much information about Joseph. Not," he added hastily, "because I don't want to. We had an agreement and I intend to honor it."

"So what's the problem?" Kurosaki demanded.

Erik sighed again. "Joseph has been...behaving erratically," he said at last. "He's always been a little bit more pig-headed than most of my guys, but lately it's been even worse. He'll take stupid risks, endanger the group, blatantly disregard direct orders."

Skylar mouth twisted into a grimace. "I can see how that would complicate things," she acknowledged, all too familiar with that situation herself; she'd never expected suck trouble form Irina, though. She'd thought that her best friend, of all people, would understand what Skylar wanted and why she wanted it. "Still," she added, "any information you have on his most recent location could really help us out a lot. Please?"

"Wow," Erik said with a laugh. "An actual please, from Skylar Emerson of all people?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Skylar grumbled. "I _was_ raised to have good manners, you know."

Erik just shook his head. "And here I was thinking it was all an act. Well, anyway," he went on, "Joseph has been staying in an abandoned convenience store. The one on the corner of Walker Boulevard and Renway Street. If he's really gone to ground, he should be hiding there."

Skylar nodded. "Thanks," she said, and rejoined her friends. "Okay, you guys head on over to the convenience store; Miruna, scout the area out first and then find someplace to take cover until I catch up."

"You're not coming with us?" Yuya asked, shooting her a worried look, even as Yuto hovered nearby, visible only to her, his expression stern and unreadable as usual.

"Don't worry," she assured him -them-. "I'll catch up."

"Where are you going?" Kurosaki asked, calling out after her as she jogged to the exit.

"To rescue Yukito," she answered with a wry smile. "I did promise him, after all."

* * *

 _A/N: So...that was Skylar's Duel against Erik; I hope everyone enjoyed it. In the next chapter we'll see how Yuki's Duel with Raimundo went while Skylar was off beating the "scavenger king". He's using a Deck that he's totally unfamiliar with, so I doubt it'll go well, but we'll see. XD_


	12. Chapter 12: Yukito Hisakawa

**Chapter 12: Yukito Hisakawa Uses a Deck That's Not His**

Yukito was not happy. Under normal circumstances, he might have enjoyed a rematch with Raimundo. Well, _enjoy_ might not be quite the right word. But he wouldn't have absolutely loathed the idea.

But with a Deck not his own sitting in his Duek Disk? Yeah, he was having trouble being overly enthusiastic about that.

But that was okay, he told himself. Because his goal here wasn't to defeat Raimundo; it was just to stall until Skylar and the others got some answers from Erik. All he had to do was get Raimundo's attention and drag the Duel on long enough for his friends to get inside.

So he strolled right up to Raimundo as if he hadn't a care in the world, smiling brightly as the big burly man eyed him with a suspicious glower.

"What're you goin' here, Hisakawa?" Raimundo demanded, clenching his hands into fists. "Stirrin' up trouble?"

Yukito patted his Duel Disk. "I was just passing through the area," he lied easily, giving a carefree smile. "Was wondering if you'd maybe be interested in that rematch."

Raimundo's eyes narrowed. "You've been avoidin' me for months," he said suspiciously. "Why ask for a rematch now?"

Yukito assumed an innocent expression. "Because I felt like it," he replied. "But hey, if you're too chickenshit to accept my challenge, fine. I'll go fine someone else who feels up for a Duel."

"Wait!" Raimundo called out as Yukito turned to go. "wait, I'll Duel you! On one condition," he added.

"Name it," Yukito replied at once.

"I go first," Raimundo said.

Yukito considered this for a moment, then nodded; it wasn't like going first would help him out any, not with how totally unfamiliar he was with Gio's Deck. Getting Raimundo to Duel him in the first place was worth letting the other man have the first turn. "Deal," Yukito said, activating his Duel Disk.

"Duel!" they shouted.

 _ **Yukito vs. Raimundo**_

 _ **[8000]-[8000]**_

"I draw," Raimundo said, taking the first turn as they'd agreed, "and activate my Teleport Spell Card. Once per turn, if my opponent controls a monster and I control no monsters, I can pay 800 LP to Special Summon one Psychic-type monster from my hand.. Next, I'll play one monster face-down, and then finish my turn by setting an additional card and activating the Field Spell Brain Research Lab, which lets me Normal Summon one Psychic-Type monster in addition to my original Normal Summon or Set. With that, I'll end my turn."

"My move," Yukito replied. "I draw. Then I'll set two cards face-down and summon Ally of Justice Cyclone Creator [1400/1200], activating its effect, which lets me discard one card and return one Spell or Trap Card on the field to its owner's hand for every Tuner face-up on the field. Ally of Justice Cyclone Creator _is_ a Tuner, meaning I can return one of your cards to your hand; I select-"

"Not so fast!" Raimundo interrupted. "I activate Torrential Tribute, destroying your Ally of Justice Cyclone Creator!"

Yukito clenched his jaw. "I end my turn, then," he said stiffly. _This is not off to a good start_ , he thought to himself.

"I draw," Raimundo said, "and summon Psychic Commander [1400/800] in attack mode. Then, thanks to Brain Research Lab, I can do a second summon. I choose to Tribute my Psychic Commander to summon Overdrive teleporter [2100/1200] in attack mode."

Yukito tapped on his Duel Disk. "I activate my two face-down trap cards," he said, "Ultimate Offering and Cyber Summon Blaster. Ultimate Offering," he explained, "lets me pay 500 LP to summon an additional monster on my turn, while Cyber Summon Blaster will do _you_ damage every time a Machine-type monster is Special Summoned."

Raimundo just waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, whatever," he said carelessly. "I also summon another Psychic Commander from my hand, along with Mind Protector in defense mode. Now, Psychic Commander and Overdrive Teleporter, attack him directly!

 _ **[Yukito: 4500]-[Raimundo:8000].**_

"And I'm not done yet!" Raimundo exclaimed. "To finish my turn, I'll tune my Overdrive Teleporter to my Psychic Commander to Synchro Summon Hyper Blaster Psychic! [3000/2500]. _Now_ ," he said with a smug smile, "I'll end my turn."

"My move," Yukito said, drawing his next card. His heart sank as he reviewed his current hand of cards and realized that there was virtually no way for him to win with the Deck he'd borrowed from Giovanni. The fault wasn't, as some would have assumed, with the Deck specifically; rather, it was Yukito's own playing style in _combination_ with the Ally of Justice Deck that made this Duel impossible. He simply wasn't a good match for a Deck like Gio's, and it was beginning to become extremely obvious. "I'll put one card face-down," he said reluctantly, "and end my turn."

Raimundo gave a nasty laugh. "Out of moves already, Hisakawa? That was fast."

"Just make your move," Yukito growled.

Raimundo only laughed more. "Don't mind if I do," he said. "I draw, pay 500 LP because of Mind Protector's effect. Next, I'll have Hyper Blaster Psychic attack you directly, doing 3000 points of damage!"

Yukito tried to brace himself for the incoming attack but it was no good. The blast slammed into him like a ten ton truck, the Solid Vision ramping up the intensity to the point of overkill. He screamed as the attack hit him, then collapsed to the ground, panting and in pain.

 _This is_ , he thought weakly as his vision flickered with bright spots, _the last time I Duel with a Deck that isn't mine._

"I end my turn," Raimundo said, giving another obnoxious smile as he watched Yukito struggle to stand.

Yukito finally managed to scramble back up, chest heaving as his heart pounded, the after effects of the immense Solid Vision hit still not dissipating. "I draw," he said shakily, then cursed when he got another Trap Card. What he needed was a monster to summon, not more Trap Cards! "I'll set one card face-down on the field," he said anyway, because he couldn't take a turn and not do anything; at least this card might buy him some time. "I end my turn."

"I draw," Raimund replied, "and pay 500 LP because of Mind Protector's effect. Then," he went on with a triumphant smirk, "I'll attack with Hyper Blaster Psychic! Finish him off!"

"I activate Negate Attack," Yukito said immediately, "to cancel your attack!"

"So there is still some fight left in you," Raimundo remarked, looking pleased. "I end my turn."

"My move," Yukito said. "I draw." He heaved a sigh at the magenta-trimmed card he ended up with; it was one he could use effectively, but still... _another_ Trap Card? _The next time I see Giovanni_ , he thought to himself, _we are having a very serious talk about the ratio of Monsters and Traps in his Deck_. "I'll set one card face-down on the field," he said again, "and end my turn".

"I draw," Raimundo said, "and pay 500 LP because of Mind Protector's effect. Then I'll attack you directly with Hyper Blaster Psychic!"

"I activate my next Trap Card," Yukito declared, "Cursed Prison, which lets me summon one Synchro monster from my Extra Deck in face-up defense position, on the condition that none of its effects can be activated. I select Ally of Justice Decisive Arms [3300/3300]! Since its defense is greater than your monster's attack, _you'll_ be the one taking damage! 300 points of it in fact!"

Raimundo cursed as his attack rebounded on him and dropped his LP. "I end my turn," he said, looking aggravated.

"I draw," Yukito said, starting to feel a little bit better about the Duel now that he'd finally managed to summon a monster and keep it on the field. "Since the battle position Ally of Justice Decisive Arms can't be changed because of Cursed Prison, I'll just play one card face-down, and end my turn."

"My turn," Raimundo said, drawing a card. "I pay another 500 LP because of mind protector, dropping my LP to 5700. Next, I'll activate Mind Control; by paying another 800 LP, I can take control of one of _your_ monsters!"

"Not so fast," Yukito replied. "I activate Dark Bribe to negate the activation of your spell card and destroy it; as a secondary effect, you get to draw one card."

Raimundo scowled, clearly not pleased with Yukito's counter. "Fine, whatever," he grumbled. "Then I'll Tribute Mind Protector to Special Summon Master Gig [2600/1400] and use its effect: once per turn, I can pay 1000 LP to destroy monsters my opponent controls equal to the number of face-up psychic monsters I control. And I choose your Ally of Justice Decisive Arms! Next," he went on mercilessly as Yukito's monster exploded into pixels, "I'll use Brain Laboratory to summon Mind Master [100/200] to the field, and then I'll tune Mind Master to Master Gig to Synchro Summon Hyper Psychic Blaster [3000/2500]! Now, Hyper Psychic Blaster, attack him directly and finish him off!"

"I activate my second Cursed Prison Trap Card to summon Ally of Justice Catastor [2200/1200] in defense mode," Yukito said, trying to forestall the inevitable defeat that was winging his way.

And sure enough... "The activation of your Trap Card doesn't matter," Raimundo said triumphantly. "Thanks to Hyper Psychic Blaster's effect,you're still going to take damage equal to the difference between my monster's ATK and your monster's DEF! So say good night!"

Yukito took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for the crippling Solid Vision attack that was almost definitely going to do some serious damage; Raimundo, like so many Duelists now, played for keeps and didn't hold back, letting the holograms do real damage because that was the world they lived in now and if you weren't tough enough to take it then you didn't deserve to be around in the first place.

Yukito knew he could probably endure the Solid Vision hit; he'd had worse in the past, but still... _This is going to hurt._

Someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tackled Yukito to the ground as the attack came, knocking him down and away from the blast. As a matter of fact, it knocked him away from the Duel altogether, as he and his assailant tumbled down the hill they were on, rolling away from Raimundo and leaving the Duel Zone.

"What..." Yukito began to ask, then smiled when he realized who it was.

"Good night!" Scarlett hollered back the way they'd come, an triumphant and mischievous light dancing in her crimson eyes. "Hope the bed bugs bite!"

"You can't just go charging into duels like that," Yukito said automatically.

Skylar rolled her eyes. "You're welcome, Yuki." She stood up and brushed herself off. "Seriously, though, what the heck happened in that duel?"

"It wasn't a Deck I was familiar with," Yukito replied, giving a helpless shrug. "I run a Fire Deck, remember? An Archetype like the Ally of Justice cards is totally not in my wheelhouse. Anyway, what the heck are _you_ doing? Why are you suddenly in Infinitas mode? Where's your wig?"

"Eh." She gave a shrug that mimicked his own. "I figured if I was going to dramatically rescue you, it might be a good idea to be the version of myself who does things like that. My wig and contacts are safe and sound," she added, patting the knapsack she had slung over one shoulder. "I'll put everything back on while we're en route to meet up with the others."

Yukito was about to nod in agreement, then made a slightly strangled sound. "Uh, I think we might have a slight problem with your plan," he said weakly, pointing to something behind her.

Scarlett made an aggravated noise. "What now?" she demanded, spinning around. Then she gave a little start of surprise as she saw what Yukito had been pointing to. Or rather, _who_ he had been pointing to. "Yuya?" She blinked rapidly and then looked again, just to make sure she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing. "What are you doing here?"

"I got worried when you went off by yourself," Yuya said slowly, eyes wide as he stared at her. "Skylar, you look so different! Like, really, _really_ different!"

"Way to go, Skylar," Yukito said brightly. "You spilled your own secret identity."

"Technically," she felt obligated to point out, "I didn't spill it, he just discovered it." Then the ramifications of what had just happened started to occur to her. "Well, crap."

"Mm-hmm," was Yukito's response.

"I don't understand," Yuya said uncertainly, taking a few hesitant steps forward, the phantom that was Yuto hovering nearby, gray eyes watchful and assessing. "What happened to your hair?" He looked up at her with a frown. "And your eyes...weren't your eyes blue?" He put his hands on his hips after looking at her for another moment. "Who are you, Skylar?"

She sighed, and then gave the boy a tired smile. "Sorry for the confusion, Yuya." She thrust out a hand to him. "Scarlett, leader of Infinitas. Pleased to meet you."


	13. Chapter 13: Keeping Secrets

**Chapter 13: Keeping Secrets**

* * *

"You can't tell anyone that I'm Scarlett," Skylar said seriously to Yuya, watching him out of the corner of her eye as she pulled her wig out of her knapsack and tugged it on.

The young teen just looked at her in confusion. "But why not?" he asked. "I mean, why are you hiding it in the first place?"

"Because it's dangerous," she replied, fishing around in her bag for her contacts case. "Oh jeez," she muttered under her breath, rummaging in an inner pocket, "now where did I put it..."

"But dangerous _how_ ," Yuya pressed, not letting the issue drop. "Why can't people know?"

"Because it could get her killed," Yukito replied, giving the brutally honest answer that Skylar herself was dancing around. "She's the leader of our resistance, Yuya, do you understand what that means? It means," he went on as Yuya shook his head, "that she is currently at the top of the Academia hit list. They think that if they take her out, they'll cripple our rebellion."

Yuya's eyes widened. "Would it? Cripple your group, I mean, if something happened to her."

"It would certainly set us back a bit," Yukito said.

"Just a bit?" Skylar asked dryly, slanting him a bemused look as she finally extracted her contacts case and snapped it open. "Man, Yuki, I feel so needed."

"Okay, a lot," Yukito acknowledged with a faint smile. "Scarlett," he explained to Yuya, "is the face of Inifnitas in a lot ways. She inspires us to be bold, to not give in. She's also one of the best, if not _the_ best, Duelists in the group; if Academia eliminates her, it's going to scare a lot of those left behind. Myself included," he added seriously.

"Oh, please," Skylar said with a snort, blinking rapidly as she settled her blue contacts into place, "I'm not that great of a Duelist. More experienced, sure, because I was one of the idiots obsessed with a kid's card game before everything went topsy turvy, but I'm far from an expert."

Yukito waved that aside. "Your capture would demoralize the ranks of the resistance," he said matter-of-factly. "And," he added, "that's not even taking into consideration what might happen to Fristad."

Now Yuya looked even more perplexed. "The boardinghouse? What does her being Scarlett have to do with the boardinghouse?"

"Think about it," Skylar said with a sigh. "It's obvious that I care about the people living there, right? That I'd do just about anything to keep them safe?"

Yuya nodded.

"Well, from the perspective of a merciless soldier, that's a weakness. That building full of innocent people? Perfect hostages. If anyone from Academia finds out that Skylar Emerson and Scarlett of Infinitas are the same person, it's game over. They'd use the boardinghouse and the people there against me in a heartbeat, and I can't risk that. It's why I go to the trouble of disguising myself in the first place," she explained. "So that _they_ stay safe."

Yuya nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful as he mulled it all over. "I won't tell anyone," he said at last, looking determined. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Thanks," she said sincerely, not entirely sure if she could really trust this strange kid she'd only just met, but willing to take things on faith for now. "I appreciate that."

"You can trust him," the semi-transparent Yuto said, unexpectedly chipping into the conversation he'd previously been only a silent witness to. "He keeps his promises."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said, giving the sort-of-ghost a faint smile.

"And there you go," Yukito remarked lightly, "talking to thin air again."

"For the love of...!" She shook a fist at her friend. "You're as bad as Miruna sometimes, I swear! He's right there. Right there!"

"Mmhmm."

She cuffed him lightly on the back of the head. "Stop teasing me," she warned, "or I'll tell Miruna that your head wound was more serious that we thought and that you need _lots_ of bed rest."

Yukito pulled a comically alarmed face. "Anything but that," he said desperately. "If I get stuck in bed all day I'll lose my mind. Skylar-"

"Relax," she said reassuringly, patting him lightly on the shoulder. "I wouldn't do that to you. Unless," she added cheerfully, "you tick me off. So just, you know, tread carefully."

Yukito, initial panic subsiding, rolled his eyes, an amused smirk turning up the corners of his mouth. "Copy that."

"Anyway," Skylar said, finally content that her disguise was adequately donned, "let's go catch up with the others, shall we? Or better yet," she said with an anticipatory grin, "beat them there!"

* * *

Miruna was growing exasperated with Shun Kurosaki. At first, she'd been annoyed at his grim reticent behavior.

Now, however, she was experiencing an entirely different problem: the guy just wouldn't _shut up_.

At first it had just been basic questions about this world and how Academia had invaded. So she'd told him the basics of the Null Dimension, explaining that Duel Monsters had never been a big thing here, how the military had confiscated the holographic technology that would have turned the card game into something truly spectacular. She told him of how life had been good, normal and peaceful, until one day psychopaths from another dimension had muscled their way into this world and starting wreaking havoc with their Solid Vision monsters. She told him how utterly terrifying that had been, and had needed to actually take a moment to calm herself down because even just _remembering_ the initial terror of those first few weeks (hell, who was she kidding, those first few _months_ ) was enough to bring her to the edge of a panic attack.

She told him of how no one had been able to truly mount a true resistance against Academia for a long time, because the only way to fight back was with Duel Monsters, and here in the Null Dimension that medium was initially nothing but a children's game that only really young or really geeky people indulged in. She told him of how eventually some of them had stolen Duel Disks from Academia soldiers and taught themselves how to use the tech, with many set-backs and no small number of minor explosions and mechanical malfunctions.

He'd listened patiently throughout all of it, asking questions now and again about certain things; why had the military taken the holo-tech? Why was this called the Null Dimension? Why were she and Yukito older than their dimensional counterparts?

She had no good answers to any of those questions, and told him so.

And so he'd lapsed into silence for a while as they trekked through the ruined streets of the once-beautiful Summerland City, and the ensuing lack of conversation left her to her own thoughts, most of them revovling around their gloomy surroundings. It wasn't her hometown the way it was for Skylar and Irina, but she'd grown to love it here in Summerland City after she'd been forced to move because of a school transfer. Seeing it a wrecked and devastated shell of its former glory did unpleasant things to her heart and made her want to simultaneously weep in despair and scream in rage; she could only imagine how much worse it must be for Irina and Skylar. To see their hometown, the city they'd been born and raised in, razed and destroyed and twisted into something almost unrecognizable couldn't anything other than an agony.

So when Kurosaki had spoken up again, startling out of her depressing musings, she'd almost been grateful.

But then he'd started asking all sorts of questions about Infinitas. How had they formed, how many of them were there, how often did they win fights against Academia, how did they stay hidden, how secure was their hideout really, what did she do for them, what did Yukito do for them, and, his most often asked question, who was Scarlett and how could be get in touch with her.

She'd given him the most basic and vague answers she could think of, and had at first been amused at the increasingly aggravated expression on his face that made it clear that he knew she was giving him the run around.

Eventually, he'd snapped and demanded to know why she wouldn't just tell him what he wanted to know.

"Because I don't trust you," she told him honestly, halting in place and turning to face him with a severe frown on her face. "I'm sure you're a great guy, Kurosaki, but I don't _know_ you. You could be anyone; a spy, a mercenary, anything. So you'll excuse me," she went on testily, "if I am not overwhelmingly eager to divulge secrets to you that others have died to protect."

That seemed to set him back on his heels for a moment, a shadow of regret passing over his face. Unfortunately, the regret didn't seem to last long, because he picked right up where he'd left off a moment prior. "But Scarlett," he pressed, expression intense. "She's your leader, right? Can I speak with her? It would help," he added, "to know what another resistance group is doing. To compare notes, see what works and what doesn't."

Miruna sighed, praying for patience. "I can't introduce you to Scarlett," she said. "Sorry."

And still he didn't let it go. "But if you could just-"

"No," she said firmly, then eased up her severity a bit at the frustrated look on his face. "Look," she said with another sigh, "I can guarantee that Scarlett already knows you're here in our dimension."

Kurosaki's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How-"

"Skylar reports directly to Scarlett," Miruna replied, congratulating herself a little bit on how she managed to say it with a straight face; then again, she'd had lots of practice with this little lie by this point, hadn't she? "So if Scarlett wants to meet with you," she went on, " _she'll_ contact _you._ "

"But when?"

"Whenever she has time," Miruna answered. "She's a busy woman, you know? And if you're not a threat to us-"

"I'm not," Kurosaki said at once, then amended his statement to include his companions. " _We're_ not; the Lancers are against Academia one hundred percent."

"Glad to hear it," Miruna replied honestly, "but where I was going with that was: since you're not a threat, Scarlett might not having meeting with you as her top priority. There are other things she has to focus on first, like fighting the invaders who are trying to kill us. I'm sure she'll get around to it eventually," she added, trying to be reassuring, "but maybe don't bank everything on her, you know?"

He didn't look happy with her answer, but nodded anyway. "I understand," he said reluctantly. "Thank you for the information."

"You're welcome," she replied, then glanced over at him contemplatively. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Seems only fair," was his response. "After all the questions I've been asking you."

She smiled a bit at that. "I was wondering," she began, "about your friend, Yuto."

Kurosaki looked faintly surprised by that. "What about him?"

"Well," she said slowly, drawing the word out as she marshaled her thoughts, "it's odd, isn't it, the way he merged with that Yuya kid? I mean, I get that they're dimensional counterparts; I totally get that, since Yuki and I are, too. But I really don't get how that merging thing _happened_."

She also wondered about, but didn't ask, why was it that Yuya registered as an anomaly to her Duel Disk sensors; she had yet to mention it to anyone but Yukito who seemed to find it more bemusing than anything, but it concerned her more than a little. Was the kid an Avatar of Distortion? He didn't _seem_ like one, at least not what she'd seen of him so far, which begged the question of what exactly was he? Was her Duel Disk just classifying him as an anomaly because he was Yukito's Standard counterpart and the sensors couldn't work that out? Or was it something else entirely?

"You're not the only one who doesn't understand it," Kurosaki remarked dryly, aswering her spoken question. "Trust me, I would love to know how my best friend ended up merged with the hyperactive tomato-head. From what Yuya has mentioned," he added, "Yuto was in a Duel and ended up taking a pretty bad Solid Vision hit. I don't know much more than that," he admitted. "I was confronting Yuya about how he had Yuto's ace card, but some other stuff got in the way and interrupted."

"Hmm," Miruna said thoughtfully. "It must have something to do with how they're counterparts," he theorized. "Still, it's weird."

Kurosaki snorted. "You don't need to tell me that."

"I suppose not," she acknowledged; she could only imagine how utterly bizarre it must be to have your best friend's soul living inside another person's body. The very thought of it was enough to boggle her mind. "Oh, hey," she said suddenly, perking up as she spotted a familiar face in the distance as they approached the rendezvous point. "There are Skylar and Yuki. Ah, and Yuya; looks like he caught up to them after all."

"I still can't believe he just ran off after them," Kurosaki grumbled. "So irresponsible...what if he'd gotten lost?"

Miruna slanted him an amused look; for all of Kurosaki's grouchy complaints about his younger teammate, there was genuine concern, too. She had to seriously squint to see it, but it _was_ there. "He's fourteen, not a toddler," she said in response. "I'm sure he would have been fine."

"I don't know," he muttered doubtfully. "The kid attracts trouble."

A grin crossed Miruna's face before she could stop it. "I know someone like that," she said, rolling her eyes as Skylar spotted them and gave a hearty wave, looking extremely pleased with having arrived first. "I sometimes wonder if she does it on purpose, or if that's just how she is naturally."

"Hurry up, you slowpokes," Skylar called out, oblivious to Miruna's oblique comment about her since she was too far away to hear it. "You're holding up our heroic quest to reclaim Yuki's Deck!"

Yukito seemed to mutter something under his breath at that point, and whatever it was it must have been interesting, because Skylar's next act was to kick Miruna's boyfriend in the shin.

"Ouch!" Yukito yelped. "Would you restrain your violent impulses, woman? Sheesh!"

"Don't _woman_ me, buddy," Skylar said warningly, but the threat fell flat on account of the wide grin she was sporting. "Anyway," she went on as Miruna and Kurosaki joined them, "Yuki, Yuya, and I already did a bit of recon, and it looks like there are two guards posted at the store entrance and that's it."

"We haven't seen Cherise yet," Yukito added, "but Joseph went inside about fifteen minutes ago and hasn't come out again."

"Does he still have your Deck?" Kurosaki asked.

"I have no idea," Yukito replied. "But he'd better either have it or know where it is, because he's in for an ass-kicking if I don't get it back."

"Your Deck means a lot to you," Yuya observed, looking up at Yukito with an unreadable expression that didn't suit his innocent face.

"I'm a Duelist," Yukito replied. "Of course my Deck matters to me."

"Our Decks are all we have," Skylar tacked on. "And considering how hard we had to work to build them and keep them after Academia first invaded...well, let's just say that most of us would rather lose a limb than lose our Decks."

There was also the fact that Yukito's Deck had a one of a kind Dragon card that they couldn't let Academia get their hands on, but that was a separate matter. Sort of.

"Well," Skylar said after they took a moment to size up their next two opponents from a distance, "let's get this reclamation mission underway, shall we?"


	14. Chapter 14: Skylar Is a Geek

**Chapter 14: Skylar Is a Geek, and Yuki Is Awesome**

* * *

They let Shun deal with the two guards; Skylar, Miruna, and Yukito had initially been against the idea on the grounds that they could handle their own problems, but Kurosaki had insisted, and even gone on to Duel and defeat the two guards single-handedly with cards none of the Null Dimension residents had ever seen before.

"Raid- _what_ cards?" Skylar demanded once the Duel was over and Kurosaki's two opponents had been left trussed up and stowed somewhere out of the way. "Seriously, what the heck was that? Can I see?"

"Good grief," Miruna muttered. "Show her a new archetype and it's like her birthday came early."

"It's like a completely different Skylar," Yuya said in wonder, eyes wide as the subject of their discussion peppered Kurosaki with eager questions.

"Raid _Raptors_ ," Kurosaki informed Skylar, seeming baffled by her sudden enthusiastic intensity, but willing enough to answer her questions. "It's a Deck that mostly focuses on Xyz Summoning and swarming the field to overwhelm your opponent."

"So _cool_ ," Skylar crooned, actually bouncing up and down as Kurosaki handed her a copy of Booster Strix to look at.

"And this," Miruna remarked dryly, "is the moment where everyone can see what a dork our fearless leader is. Seriously, Skylar, maybe dial it down a notch? Before people start backing away in fear?"

"But look at it!" Skylar exclaimed, flailing Booster Strix around in a way that had Kurosaki looking faintly alarmed. "Just look at it! Did you see how quickly he was able to get all those monsters on the field? And those Rank-Up Spells!" She made a pleased sound. "Talk about a great combination!"

"I'm going to head inside now," Yukito remarked, "before she starts drooling like a total dweeb."

Skylar flipped him off, glanced at Yuya in a vague sorry-for-corrupting-your-young-mind-with-obscene-behavior sort of way, and then returned her attention to Kurosaki and his cards. "And the way you used Icarus Attack to wipe out their monsters and leave them wide open for the finishing attack!" She clapped her hands together excitedly. "That was so great!"

"I take it," Kurosaki remarked as he took his card back from her, "that you were one of the ones who was playing Duel Monsters before Academia invaded?"

"Guilty as charged," Skylar admitted with a bashful smile. "But enough of that!" she said hastily, seemingly slightly embarrassed by her outburst. "Let's get on with the mission, shall we?"

Miruna and Yukito both rolled their eyes but followed after her as she headed inside the convenience store, leaving Kurosaki and Yuya to trail behind them in bemused acceptance.

"So," Yuya said as they entered the store and started looking around, "what's our plan here?"

"Find Joseph, grab Joseph, and make him tell us where my Deck is," Yukito replied instantly. "Hopefully, he still has it and hasn't sold it to anyone or split up the cards."

"What if he has?" Kurosaki asked.

"Then he's in for an ass-kicking," Yukito replied, reiterating his earlier statement. "I want my Deck back," he added, "and I am not taking no for answer, so he'd better tell me what I want to hear."

"Yukito doesn't get worked up too often," Miruna remarked as said Duelist strode across the room to investigate a storeroom, "but when he does it's pretty impressive."

"I'm surprised he's not ticked at Irina," Skylar remarked thoughtfully, "since technically this is all her fault."

"Oh, believe me," Miruna said at once, "he's plenty mad at her. He's just biding his time until he can really give her an earful."

"Huh," was Skylar's response. "Will that be a private show, or can I buy a ticket?"

Miruna rolled her eyes. "You're terrible," she said fondly. Then she raised her voice so Yukito could hear her. "Find anything yet, babe?" she called out.

"Nothing yet," was his disgruntled response from the storeroom. "I think there must be a secret entrance to a basement or something," he added as he emerged from the back room and rejoined them in the main storefront, "because there is absolutely nowhere for anyone to hide in this stupid little shop."

And thus began their search for a hidden trap door. To Skylar's immense surprise, they did actually find one, underneath a rack of ramen cups that seemed to be on some sort of bizarre sliding panel that could be moved to reveal the ladder leading down to a basement bunker.

"Will wonders never cease," she said in amusement as she made a mental note to grab some ramen cups on her way out; it was just the sort of food that could be easily stockpiled in the event a supply shortage occurred. "Hidden rooms in convenience stores. Go figure."

Yukito said nothing in response, too focused on finding Joseph and getting some answers to contemplate the little things.

And so they descended a small metal ladder and wound up in a nice little basement hideaway. They found Joseph himself lurking in the back of a fairly spacious adjoining room, lounging on a foldout couch and snacking on an expired candy bar.

When he saw them, he bolted to his feet and inhaled part of his candy bar as he tried to shout at them, leaving him bent over and wheezing as he tried to dislodge the chocolate in his windpipe.

"Think we should help?" Skylar asked curiously. "Do Heimlich or whatever?"

Yukito made a sound of disagreement, crossing his arms. "I'd say let him choke to death," he commented, "but if he dies before I get my Deck back I might never find out where it is." He still didn't move to help the man, though.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Yuya said suddenly, heading over to a bookcase in the corner. "Looks like he's been stealing all sorts of Decks; this is quite the collection."

Joseph made an angry gasping sound as Yuya approached the bookcase, actually staggering a couple steps forward as if to head the boy off.

But Kurosaki stepped into his path, expression severe. "I'd stay right where you are," he said in warning, "before you get yourself hurt."

Joseph turned an interesting shade of red, finally managed to swallow the candy he'd been choking on, and then proceeded to spend the next two and a half minutes cursing them out.

Skylar tuned out the rant after the man started repeating himself, trailing after Yukito as he joined Yuya in perusing the Decks that Joseph had acquired. "You see yours?" she asked him.

Yukito glanced from Deck to Deck with a worried scowl, clearly not seeing what he was looking for, but then his entire face lit up as he reached the last shelf and found his cards. "I think this is it," he said, picking up the Deck and flipping through the cards with quick and expert movements.

"Everything there?" Kurosaki asked over his shoulder, his attention still focused on Joseph in case the man tried anything.

"So far, yeah," Yukito replied. "I just need to make sure that- Oh, thank God," he said with a massive sigh of relief as he saw his ace card. "It's here."

"Your dragon?" Yuya guessed, a knowing look on his face.

"Yeah," Yukito acknowledged with a nod; all the counterparts, it seemed, had a signature dragon of some variety.

"You can't just take that!" Joseph exclaimed suddenly, seeming to abandon his long slew of insults. "It's mine!"

"Ha!" Yukito shook his head in bitter amusement. "Yours, huh? So this Deck wasn't given to you by an Academia psycho named Cherise? She stole it from _me_ , by the way," he added in a conversational tone that masked how well and truly ticked off he was. "I was planning to thrash _her_ in a Duel to demonstrate how terrible an idea it was to take my cards from me, but since she's not here I guess I'll have to settle for you."

Joseph looked briefly alarmed at being challenged directly, but then sneered. "Oh, please," he said scathingly. "You're just some stupid kid with a hero complex; all you Infinitas bastards are the same! All you do is _talk_ a big game!You couldn't Duel your way out of a paper bag!"

Yukito gave a razor-sharp smile. "If you're so confident that you can beat me," he said, "come on and try."

"Fine," Joseph snapped. "On the condition that when I win, _and I will_ , I get to keep that Deck."

Yukito snorted, seemingly amused by Joseph's idiotic confidence. "I accept your terms," he replied. "Now," he said, switching out Giovanni's Deck from his Duel Disk and returning his own to its rightful place, "let's get this party started, shall we?"

"Duel!" they shouted.

 _ **Yukito vs. Joseph**_

 _ **[8000]-[8000]**_

"I'll go first," Yukito said, drawing a card, "since I'm the one whose Deck was stolen."

Joseph glared at him fiercely. "Fine," he said irritably. "Not like it'll help you in the end anyway."

"I'll start by setting two face-downs," Yukito said, unperturbed by Joseph's ire, "and then I'll summon Darkfire Soldier #2 [1700/1100] in attack mode. Next," he continued, "I'll equip my Darkfire Soldier #2 with two Equip Spells from my hand: Salamandra which raises his ATK by 700, and Unicorn Horn, which raises his ATK by another 700, for a grand total of 3100 ATK. I can't attack yet," Yukito commented as he ended his turn, "but I'm _really_ looking forward to when I can."

Joseph swallowed hard, eyeing the powered-up Darkfire Soldier #2 as one might eye a venomous cobra that was about to strike. "My move," he said shakily. "I draw. Then," he went on with more confidence, "I'll activate Heavy Storm, which destroys all your Spell cards!"

"My Unicorn Horn's second effect activates," Yukito noted, "returning it to the top of my Deck."

"Like I care," Joseph said in response, rolling his eyes. "I'll set two face-downs and end my turn."

"I draw," Yukito replied, "and activate the effect of Flamvell Baby; by discarding it from my hand, I can raise Darkfire Soldier #2's ATK by 400 points." He considered his options, then relaxed his stance somewhat. "I end my turn."

Joseph looked confused. "You're not going to attack?" he asked, sounding utterly baffled.

"Just make your move," Yukito responded, waving at him to hurry up about it.

Joseph drew his next card, still looking unsure. "I end my turn," he said after a moment, apparently deciding that no move was the right move.

 _Well, fine then_ , Yukito thought, _if you really want me to attack you...I will_. "My move," he said, drawing a card. "I'll set two cards face-down and then attack you directly with Darkfire Soldier #2!"

Joseph doubled over in obvious pain as the attack ran its course, leaving him with only 5900 LP once it was done.

"Weird," Yukito commented lightly as he ended his turn. "Thought for sure you had some sort of Trap Card lying in wait for me. Oh well. This works fine, too."

"Don't be so sure of yourself," Joseph hissed angrily, cheeks flushing a furious red. "This Duel's not over yet." He drew his next card. "I'll set one monster face-down, and end my turn."

"I draw," Yukito said, taking his turn. "I summon Darkfire Soldier #1 [1700/1150] in attack mode and equip him with Unicorn Horn, bringing his ATK up to 2400. Next, I'll attack your face-down monster with Darkfire Soldier #2!"

"I activate Masked Dragon's effect," Joseph said as his monster was destroyed, "to summon another Masked Dragon in defense mode."

"Okay," Yukito said easily. "I'll destroy that one with Darkfire Soldier #1."

"And I activate that Masked Dragon's effect as well," Joseph replied smugly, "to summon a third Masked Dragon in attack mode."

 _Attack mode, huh? Interesting._ "I end my turn."

"I draw," Joseph replied, "and activate Lightning Vortex. By discarding one card, I can destroy all your face-up cards! Next," he went on, "I'll sacrifice Masked Dragon to Tribute Summon Mobius the Frost Monarch [2400/1000] in attack mode. Now, Mobius, attack him directly!"

Yukito braced himself for the attack, and managed to flinch only a little as the freezing ice attack crashed into him and took a chunk out of his LP. "You'll have to do better than that," he said to Joseph even as his LP counter popped up to inform him that he now had only 5600 LP. "That attack wasn't very impressive at all."

Joseph's triumphant smirk turned down into an annoyed scowl. "Arrogant punk," he snapped. "Just you wait, the fun's only starting. I end my turn."

"I draw," Yukito replied, and tried not to be annoyed when it was Unicorn Horn; he'd known it would be because that card always returned to the top of the Deck when it was destroyed, but he really could have used a monster right then. _Oh well. No point whining about it_ , he told himself. _Just make the best of it and keep pushing forward._ With a little bit of luck, he'd be able to come up with something before Joseph totally wiped him out "I'll set one card face-down," he said, "and end my turn."

"My move, then," Joseph said, drawing a card. "I'll summon Blizzard Dragon [1800/1000] in attack mode, and then attack you directly with both my monsters!"

Yukito clenched his jaw as the consecutive attacks slammed into him, lashing him with ice and wind and chilling him down to the bone. _Freaking Solid Vision_ , he thought irritably. _Making everything real._

Honestly, he could see the general appeal of holographic technology to make Duels more interesting and exciting, but what idiot had come up with making them _physically solid_?! If by some chance he ever met that person, Yukito was going to give them a piece of his mind about it.

 _But never mind that now_ , he told himself sternly. _You're down to 1400 LP. Better think of something fast._

"I end my turn," Joseph said, a smug smile plain as day on his face.

"And I take mine," Yukito responded, and almost let out a sigh of relief as he finally drew a Trap Card that could help him out. "I'll set one card face-down, and end my turn."

"Out of moves?" Joseph taunted, drawing his next card. "Don't worry, I'll finish this fast. Blizzard Dragon, Mobius the Frost Monarch, attack him directly!"

"I activate my Mirror Force Trap Card," Yukito countered, smiling as Joseph cursed and his companions cheered from the sidelines. Well, as Skylar and Yuya cheered; Kurosaki was watching the Duel unfold with an assessing gaze that gave nothing away, while Miruna seemed to expect nothing less than a win from him and so was just waiting patiently for his victory. "Your monsters," he informed Joseph slowly as if speaking to a child, "are all destroyed. I end my turn."

Expression fierce and furious, Joseph drew his next card with an angry jerky movement. "My move," he snarled. "I'll place one card face-down on the field," he said a moment later, looking aggravated by his own lack of retaliation, "and end my turn."

 _Here we go_ , Yukito thought. _Here's my chance._ He placed a hand on his Deck, trusting his cards to give him what he needed. _Let's finish this._

He drew.

And smiled.

"I activate the effect of Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon from my hand!" he announced, his smile widening as Skylar let out a whoop of sheer excitement; she always had been a fan of his dragon. "By sacrificing 1000 LP and discarding the top ten cards from my Deck, I can Special Summon Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon to the field without the two Tributes I'd normally need. So come forth, Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon!" [2500/2000].

"Next," Yukito continued, "I'll equip him with the Unicorn Horn that I placed face-down earlier, which raises his ATK by 700 points. Then," he went on, "I'll activate his _second_ effect: once per turn, I can remove from play three cards in my Graveyard to raise Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon's ATK by another 1000 points, making his ATK a grand total of 4200 points!"

Joseph's eyes widened as he stared at the crimson flame-wreathed dragon in blatant shock and fear. Not that Yukito could blame the man for his panic, really. _He_ loved Bloodflame, but then again the dragon was his partner. To an opponent, the fierce beast was undoubtedly terrifying.

But he still wasn't going to hold back. "Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon," he called out, and his dragon responded to his cry, arching his neck and letting out a fierce roar. "Attack him directly! Bloodfire Blast!"

"Not so fast," Joseph said quickly, a sheen of sweat visible on his brow. "I activate my face-down Trap Card, Negate Attack!"

"I end my turn," Yukito said calmly. _It's fine_ , he thought, transmitting the sentiment to his dragon when Bloodflame let loose a frustrated snarl at being forced to abort the attack. _We'll get him on the next round, don't worry._

His monster subsided with a deep rumble of assent, fiery eyes focused on their opponent with an intensity that would have sent most people screaming for the hills.

Joseph, being a moron, didn't run for the hills, although he did look sorely tempted. Instead, though, he drew his next card, fingers shaking so badly that he nearly dropped it. "I'll play one monster face-down," he said at last in a very small voice, "and end my turn."

"My move," Yukito said, drawing a card. "I'll start by summoning Flamvell Gurnika [1700/200] in attack mode, then activate Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon's effect again; by banishing three cards in my Graveyard, I can raise Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon's ATK by another 1000 points, leaving him with 5200 ATK!"

Joseph let out a small whimper, which Yukito felt obligated to ignore.

"Next," he continued, "I'll have my Flamvell Gurnika attack your face-down monster!"

The monster flipped over, was revealed to be Lesser Dragon [1200/1000], and was destroyed.

"I'll also activate Flamvell Gurnika's effect," Yukito announced. "When Gurnika destroys a monster in battle, my opponent takes damage equal to the destroyed monster's Level times 200; your Lesser Dragon was a Level Four, meaning you take 800 points of damage!

 _ **[Joseph LP: 5100]**_

"Now," Yukito decalred, "time for the grand finale! Sacrificial Bloodflame Dragon, attack him directly and finish him off! Bloodfire Blast!"

Yukito's dragon let loose a roar of triumph and unleashed a massive torrent of crimson and orange flames that swept across the room and engulfed Joseph entirely, burning and scorching away the man's remaining LP even as he collapsed to the ground, wrapping his arms around his head as he huddled down for protection against the intensity of the Solid Vision attack.

 _ **Final Score**_

 _ **[Yukito: 1400]-[Joseph: 0]**_

"Well," Yukito commented as the holograms faded and left him with just his friends and the sniveling man in front of him for company, "I guess I'll be keeping my Deck after all, won't I?"


	15. Chapter 15: An Unexpected Protector

_A/N: Okay, a shorter chapter this time and it's been a little while since I updated this story, so sorry on both counts. XD I got slightly sidetracked by some other story ideas, but then my wonderful baby sister bought me Tag Force 5 for my birthday and my Yugioh obsession has been rekindled. ;D_

* * *

 **Chapter 15: An Unexpected Protector**

* * *

Skylar took Kuorsaki and Yuya back to the boardinghouse with her while Yukito and Miruna went both return Giovanni's Deck to him and request some unassigned Infinitas members for extra security since they'd been unable to locate and neutralize Cherise.

To Skylar's immense relief, Irina seemed to have salvaged the damaged generator somehow; the lights were on when they got back and no one was running around in a mass panic, so clearly the electricity was still functioning on at least a basic level.

"She's checking on the other generator," Jeremy told her when she asked about Irina's whereabouts. "She was worried about it overheating or something, I think."

Skylar thanked the younger teen for all his help, then turned back to Reiji, who'd greeted her upon her return, his little brother still clinging to his side like a barnacle. "And thank you," she told him sincerely. "For keeping things under control while I was gone."

"It was no trouble," Reiji replied, waving a hand as if to brush away her gratitude. "Your people seem rather adept at looking after themselves, major setbacks notwithstanding."

Skylar gave a faint smile. "They're good people," she said simply, "and we all do our best." She turned slightly so that she was addressing all four Lancers. "Now, let's see about finding you guys some rooms. We're pretty full-up right now, but I think I have a couple rooms that might work." She gestured for them to follow her. "Come on, this way."

They followed after her obediently as she led them through the boardinghouse, eventually stopping at the two rooms that were across the hall from her own room. "My room is right there," she told them, pointing to the door, which had a large S stenciled on it. "Irina's room is the one next to mine, and Yuki shares a room with Miruna around the corner. If you need anything, just let one of us know."

"Reira and I will take this room," Reiji said decisively, opening the door of one of the proffered rooms and gently nudging his brother inside. "Thank you for your hospitality, Skylar."

"You're welcome," she said automatically, but Reiji had already disappeared inside his new room and shut the door behind him.

"Wait," Yuya said suddenly, "hang on a second. Does this mean I'm sharing a room with Kurosaki?!"

Kurosak made an annoyed sound. "You've got to be kidding me," he grumbled. "I'm not sharing with this kid."

"The two of you could always sleep outside in the spooky ruins of the city," Skylar replied brightly. "Just don't come whining to me when an ice storm moves in during the night and you start losing fingers to frostbite."

"Sharing a room is fine," Yuya said hastily, yanking open the door and bolting inside. "Thanks, Skylar."

"Are you sure," the non-corporeal Yuto asked, watching but not following as Yuya fled with Kurosaki trailing after him, "about having us so close to you?"

Skylar frowned at him. "I don't quite follow what you mean."

"Your identity as Scarlett," he said, and Skyler reflexively glanced around for eavesdroppers even though she knew that no one but her could see or hear Yuto. "You see?" he went on seriously. "You're paranoid about it. So why put four strangers so close to your private room, where they might discover your secret?"

Skylar let out a small huff of annoyance, crossing her arms. "First of all, there are five of you, and you and Yuya already know my secret. Secondly, it was either these rooms or _no_ rooms. And I might be a bitch sometimes, but I'm not tossing a group of people _who just helped me_ out onto the streets for my own peace of mind. I've kept my secret this long," she reminded him, "my own friends and Yuya notwithstanding. I think I'll be okay."

Yuto just looked at her, his gray eyes inscrutable as his gaze met hers. "I'll help keep watch for you," he said at last.

She blinked at him in surprise. "You will?"

He nodded, giving a little shrug. "It's not like I need to sleep," he remarked, glancing down at his see-through body. "And you don't wear your disguise when you're resting, right?"

"Not normally," Skylar admitted. "The wig gives me a headache sometimes, if I keep it on for too long."

"So if someone came into your room while you were sleeping, they'd discover your true identity.:

Skylar made a face. "I _do_ lock my door, you know. I'm not an amateur."

Yuto gave her a look. "And some people know how to pick locks," he said flatly.

She scowled. "Who-" Then she realized. "Ah. Your friend Kurosaki."

"Shun has a wide range of skills," Yuto acknowledged with a slight sigh. "And while I'd like to think that he wouldn't break into a girl's room without an incredibly good reason, I know him well enough to know that he's capable of anything when he's desperate enough."

"Hmmm," was Skylar thoughtful response. "Interesting."

"There's no harm in having me keep watch for you," Yuto went on. "Consider it my way of paying you back for taking the others in."

"You really don't need to do it, if that's your reason," she said at once. "I would have taken them in anyway."

Yuto actually smiled at that, and though it was small and fleeting it did wonders to gentle his expression. "I know you would have," he replied. "And that only makes me twice as determined to replay you."

Skylar shook her head. "There's no way for me to talk you out of this, is there?"

"Not really. Like I said, I don't need to sleep like the rest of you; I might as well make myself useful somehow."

"I'm sure you're plenty useful to Yuya already," Skylar said absently, before relenting with a sigh. "Okay, fine. I accept your offer of...protection, or whatever. And thanks," she added.

Yuto just nodded, and then vanished, presumably returning to Yuya or whatever it was Yuto did when he wasn't being a weird ghostly phantom.

Shaking her head again and wondering what exactly had she done in a past life to deserve the insanity that was now her daily existence. _Oh well_ , she thought to herself. _Just keep moving forward. That's all you can do._

* * *

Miruna and Yukito returned to Fristad with ten Infinitas Duelists in tow, and wasted no time in positioning them at various points around the boardinghouse, creating a tight defense perimeter.

"Make sure," Yukito told them sternly before they went inside, "to alert us if you see _anything_ unusual."

"Yes, sir," they chorused obediently.

Since there was nothing more they could do for now, they had to be content with the measures they'd taken and plan for when something inevitably went terribly, horribly wrong.

"How long will it be, do you think," Miruna asked under her breath as they made their way through the boardinghouse, "before Cherise reports our location to Academia?"

"No idea," Yukito said sourly. "But we have to assume it'll be sooner rather than later and plan accordingly."

Miruna sighed. "We'll need to grab Skylar and discuss our options," she said unhappily. "Do we find a new location, or work out a more definite defense plan for this one? Do we evacuate the injured, or children? And where could we send them if we _did_ evacuate?" she added worriedly. "All the other shelters and refuges are already exceeding their maximum capacity; they couldn't take in our people even if they wanted to. And they wouldn't want to," she added darkly.

"Can you blame them?" Yukito asked tiredly. "Looking after others is a big responsibility, one that comes with lots of headaches. No one's going to want to add a couple hundred more people to their burden, not when they've already got hundreds of their own to take care of."

"But there must be something we can do," Miruna pressed. "We can't just sit around and wait for Academia to come and kill us all."

Yukito pulled her to a stop and then pulled her into a hug, pressing a kiss lightly against her forehead. "We'll work it out," he told her softly. "We always do. This time is no different, okay?"

Miruna gave a slight pout of pure frustration, but relented. "Okay," she said reluctantly.

Yukito gave a faint smile. "Good. Now," he went on, "go check on your idiot cousin and make sure she's not about to do something stupid like wreck our other generator."

Miruna sighed. "How mad at her are you, really?"

Yukito just gave her a look, arching an eyebrow.

She sighed again. "Right. Stupid question." She squeezed his hand gently. "I know it doesn't help, but she was trying to do the right thing."

"And I'm sure the military thought that they were doing the right thing, too, when they seized Styxx Corporation's holo-tech, but all it did in the end was leave us totally helpless against a bunch of omnicidal maniacs," Yukito replied flatly. "Good intentions don't always translate into good results, Runa, you know that."

"Yeah, " she murmrued. "I know." She gave a third and final sigh. "I'll go check on Irina," she told her boyfriend. "You find Skylar and fill her in about the Infinitas guards we have posted outside."

"Will do," Yukito replied, kissing her on the cheek before turning and striking off down a different hallway. "I'll see you at dinner."

* * *

 _A/N: I know, I know, it's a really short chapter. Sorry! I'll try and make it up to you guys with another update in a couple days, so hang in there, okay? XD_


	16. Chapter 16: Skylar Doesn't Get Dinner

**Chapter 16: Skylar Doesn't Get Dinner**

It was never any fun, getting bad news at mealtime.

"What do you mean there's been an Academia attack against the Portum refugee camp?!" Skylar hissed, nearly dropping her MRE in shock. Thankfully, she hadn't opened the ration package yet, so it didn't go to waste when it fell; although, considering the fact that it was of the decidedly questionable chili, green beans, and macaroni variety, maybe it wouldn't have been _such_ a great loss if it had splattered across the ground.

"We just got word a few minutes ago," Yukito muttered, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her away from the table and out of the room as Miruna gathered up the Lancers as well and brought them over for their unplanned huddle. "Vance sent a messenger to request assistance. I know you don't like the way he does things, Skylar, but-"

"Don't be stupid," she said sharply, cutting him off. " _Of course_ we're going. Just let me..." She glanced at the Lancers, "go contact Scarlett," she said, amending what she'd been about to say, which would have been _go get changed,_ their code phrase for switch over into Scarlett-mode _._

With the Lancers involved, though, she'd need to be more careful about how she proceeded. She'd probably even need to wear the reflective goggles and lower face mask that she'd previously only used in battles that involved a lot of smoke and fire and flying debris.

The additional level of disguise would serve a double purpose, she supposed; not only would it hide her identity, but if Academia really _had_ launched a full-scale assault on Vance's refugee camp...well, there would probably be plenty of smoke and fire and flying debris to be had.

And plenty of dead and injured refugees, too, but she tried to not think about that too much, not yet. There would time enough for that later. For now, they needed to focus on getting there as soon as possible and beating back Academia before they destroyed Portum entirely.

"Miruna, Yukito," she said, letting her authority creep into her voice as she snapped out orders. "Take the Lancers to Portum and do what you can to hold of Academia until I...until Scarlett gets there," she said firmly. "Irina," she went on, fixing her best friend in an assessing look and noting with relief that whatever reckless insanity had overcome her earlier seemed to have vanished, leaving only a determined Irina behind, "stay here and watch over Fristad. I'm worried that this might be a diversion to draw us away and leave the boardinghouse vulnerable."

"That's a legitimate concern," Reiji remarked. "I'd also like to leave Reira behind; he's a formidable Duelist despite his age and I'd rather not have him in an active battlefield."

There was something else in his tone that Skylar couldn't identify, some shadow in his words that seemed to imply some sort of deeper reasoning behind his statement, but a quick glance at Reira had her agreeing with Reiji immediately; Reira was just a child. He had no business being in a war zone.

"Reira stays here with Irina," she agreed. "And the rest of you head to Portum while I contact Scarlett."

"What about after you contact Scarlett?" Yuya asked carefully, giving her a curious look. "Will you catch up with us?" Clearly, he was wondering what she was planing to do, since she couldn't split herself in half and be in two places at once.

"I'll try to catch up," she fibbed, "but Scarlett might send me off to warn the other shelters, so if you don't see me there, don't worry."

Yuya hesitated, then nodded, exchanging a subtle look with Yuto before heading for the exit. "You can count on us," he told her. "We'll do everything we can to help those people."

She gave him a slightly strained smile as they others moved to leave as well. "I appreciate that."

!*!*!*

"So," Kurosaki said as they ran quickly but carefully through the city, "your resistance leader is finally making an appearance."

Yukito rolls his eyes. "You say that like she's been hiding out somewhere."

"Hasn't she?" Kurosaki countered. "I haven't seen her since I got here; pretty strange, isn't it, for the leader of your rebellion to be completely absent?"

"You," Yukito said in exasperation, "have been in our dimension for what, a couple days? _Maybe_ almost a week if I'm being generous? Who the hell are you to say that she hasn't been around? She saved your friend Yugo's life," he added. "I'd say that's pretty much the total opposite of being _absent_."

Kurosaki seemed to concede that point, giving a curt nod of acknowledgment and not saying anything else.

"What sorts of cards does Scarlett use?" Yuya piped up suddenly. "I mean, they must be pretty impressive, right, for her to be able to fight Academia the way you all say she does?"

Yukito gave the young teen a bemused side-eye; Yuya already knew that Skylar was Scarlett, so what was he playing at, asking questions like that? Was he trying to learn more about Skylar's alter ego, or just playing at being ignorant? With the kid's carefree smile, it was impossible to tell.

"She runs a Lightsworn Deck," he said at last, seeing no reason to keep that much a secret. It was nothing they wouldn't find out anyway, after all, once Skylar-turned-Scarlett showed up on the scene herself.

"A Lightsworn Deck?" Kurosaki echoed in disbelief, something close to scorn entering into his tone. "Why the hell would she use a Deck like that? There are plenty of better archetypes out there."

Miruna gave an uncharacteristic smirk, seeming to be darkly amused. "What's wrong, Kurosaki," she asked, "you get OTK'd by Judgment Dragon a couple times too many in the past, feeling bitter?"

"It's not that," he countered with a scowl. "It's just...a Deck like that requires _no_ skill to play. And most of it's entirely dependent upon luck."

Miruna made a sound of disagreement. "Not entirely dependent on luck," she disagreed, shaking her head even as she peered around a corner to make sure their path ahead was clear. "But as far as the skill level required goes...you're right," she admitted. "Lightsworn Decks are usually easy enough to understand and utilize even for a beginner."

"Exactly," Kurosaki said. "So why does a rebellion leader use a beginner's Deck?"

Miruna lapsed into a long silence, and after they jogged several more blocks without an answer, it was clear that the Lancers were beginning to think she never would answer.

In the end, though, she finally spoke. "Do you know," she said, giving a slightly sad smile, "what a Lightsworn Deck is called now, here in our dimension?"

The Lancers shook their heads. "What's it called?" Yuya asked curiously, saying aloud what his two teammates were wondering.

"A Suicide Deck," Yukito said, answering for his partner when she lapsed into silence again.

"Suicide?" Yuya echoed, eyes wide. "As in, killing yourself?"

"There another kind of suicide I don't know about?" Yukito asked, arching an eyebrow.

Yuya flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, " he mumbled. "But...why are Ligthsworn Decks called that here?"

"Because of the milling?" Kurosaki guessed, now starting to look bored with the conversation.

"No," Miruna said sharply. "Not because of the milling."

Her strident tone took everyone but Yukito by surprise, and they stared at her.

"It's because of what you said before," she said, giving Kurosaki a challenging look. "About how the archetype is so easily used by just about anyone."

"I don't understand," Kurosaki said slowly, brows drawing down into a slight scowl.

"I think I do," Reiji said, speaking for the first time since they'd left Fristad. "The Lightsworn cards are generally straightforward, making it an obvious Deck choice for a beginning Duelist." He looked back and forth between Yukito and Miruna for a moment before continuing. "You mentioned earlier," he went on carefully, "that your dimension never finished developing the technology to enhance Duel Monsters, meaning that the game itself never gained the popularity it achieved in the other dimensions. Meaning," he concluded, "that when Academia invaded, there was almost no one capable of fighting back, because there was no one familiar enough with Duel Monsters to counter their assault."

"Lightsworn Decks would have made fighting back easier," Miruna said, picking up where his deductions had left off. "So much easier. Stealing the Duel Disks was always risky, but once we had them all we needed to do was teach as many people as possible how to fight back and give them Decks they could use. Lightsworn cards would have been ideal," she said, " _because_ of how easy they are to use."

"But for that very same reason," Yukito continued, "Academia declared open season on anyone using Lightsworn cards. They would capture, card, or kill anyone they found with Lightsworn cards, and they even hunted down and _destroyed_ some of the stronger cards in the Archetype. Judgment Dragon, for example," he added. "Given how effectively it can turn a Duel around and thrash the opponent once it's summoned, they spared no expense to finding and eliminating every copy of the card they could, along with the Duelists who had them."

"Hence," Miruna said darkly, "why we call it a Suicide Deck. Because using Lightsworn cards now is tantamount to suicide. Academia will obliterate anyone and everyone they find in possession of them. And it's not just Lightsworns," she added. "Blackwings and a few other archetypes get the same treatment; any type of Deck that's easy enough for an inexperienced Duelist to pick up and use."

"It's one of the many reasons why they hate Scarlett so much," Yukito said with a heavy sigh. "Not only does she wreck their plans every chance she gets, she runs a Deck that they have explicitly gone to great lengths to wipe from existence."

"So _we'd_ like to respectfully request," Miruna said matter-of-factly, "that you refrain from trash-talking the Lightsworn Archetype, at least where we can hear you. Please," she tacked on, almost as an afterthought.

"I think," Reiji said slowly, slanting an unreadable look towards Kurosaki, "that we can agree to that."

"Definitely," Yuya said quickly, that bright smile back on his face full-force.

Kurosaki just nodded, looking thoughtful in an intense and scowling sort of way.

 _I hope Skylar catches up with us soon_ , Miruna thought to herself as they approached the Portum refugee camp...or rather, what was left of it. She could barely make out the threadbare tents through the smoke and ash that was clogging up the air, and even from this distance she could hear the screams of the frightened refugees as they tried to flee their attackers.

"We need to hurry," she began to say, then hesitated as she saw a pained expression on Kurosaki's face. "You okay?" she asked uncertainly.

"Fine," he said curtly, visibly shaking off whatever had affected him. "Just...bad memories."

She frowned, wanting to pursue the topic...but now definitely wasn't the time. "Are you okay to fight?" she asked instead. "Because if not-"

"I'm fine," Kuroskai snapped, charging forward and activating his Duel Disk. "Let's go."

* * *

"I used to have a mask like that," Yuto commented as Skylar quickly retrieved her Infinitas outfit from underneath her cot where she kept it hidden.

"Turn around," she ordered him as she started slipping out of her baggy sweatshirt. "You may be a ghost but you're still a boy in a girl's bedroom, and I'm getting changed."

Yuto turned an interesting shade of red that was oddly adorable before whirling around and staring very fixedly at a faded poster of Aurora Paragon as Skylar got dressed behind him.

"Okay," she said a moment later, "I'm all set. You can turn back around."

Yuto counted to ten before he did so, just to be on the safe side, then inspected Skylar's new look carefully.

Her wig was gone, leaving her with her natural red hair, bright and short and sticking out in twenty different directions in a bizarre twist on helmet hair from being stuck under the wig for hours. She'd taken her contacts out as well, her fake blue replaced by bright crimson, and she had a pair of reflective goggles hanging around her neck, the heavy-duty plastic glinting in the dim light as she turned around to grab her Duel Disk. She also had a mask not unlike his old one strapped across the lower half of her face, hiding some of her features from view.

The most dramatic change though, was her clothing. She'd traded out her baggy gray sweatshirt and faded jeans for a sleeker outfit all in black, complete with a form-fitting hooded jacket and fingerless gloves that exposed the infinity symbol tattoos on the backs of her hands.

She looked, Yuto realized, completely different from the Skylar the Lancers had initially met. This...this was _Scarlett._

"How do I look?" she asked him, her voice distorted slightly from the mask, just enough so that anyone who didn't know better wouldn't recognize her voice as Skylar's. There was also something different about the way she spoke...a confidence, a layer of authority, that had been hinted at in Skylar but hidden beneath the surface.

"Like a leader," Yuto replied honestly.

She gave him a startled look, which then morphed into a faint smile that he only knew was there from the way her cheeks lifted behind her mask. "Thanks." Then her smile turned into a slightly confused expression, her eyebrows drawing down as she titled her head slightly. "How are you here, anyway?" she asked him curiously. "I thought you were bonded to Yuya?"

"I am," Yuto replied. "And normally I am stuck with him all the time. But ever since we came to this dimension..." His frown turned more intense. "I don't know why, but I've been able to...extend my presence, I guess you could say. Go farther from Yuya than before."

"Huh," Scarlett said, swapping out her Naturia Deck for her Lightsworn Deck. "That's weird."

Yuto snorted. "That's an understatement."

Scarlett smiled again, then sobered as she recalled her reason for donning her Infinitas identity in the first place tonight. "We need to hurry and get to Portum," she said seriously. "I don't want Academia to hurt anyone else, not if I can stop it."

"I'll go back to Yuya," Yuto said with a sharp nod, his form already fading, "and let him know you're on your way."

Scarlett nodded back, her expression grim and all business as she headed out the door. "Thanks. I'll be there shortly."


	17. Chapter 17: Echoes of Horror

**Chapter 17: Echoes of Horror**

It was situations like this that reminded Scarlett why she hated Academia so much. Why she couldn't stand the thought of them getting what they wanted, not if _this_ was the cost.

There was so much death. So much loss, and pain, and sorrow.

As she raced through the streets to where the Portum refugee camp had been established in the previously pristine and scenic Mulberry Nature Reserve on the western side of the city, she had to focus incredibly hard to avoid mentally drifting back to the initial days of the invasion. The black smoke in the air, the screams echoing in the wind...it brought it all back with sickening clarity. The fear and the agony and the terrifying certainty that they were all going to die or be carded and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

That helplessness had been the worst. She and everyone else had had no way to fight back, no way to protect what mattered most to them, no way to stop Academia from ripping their lives to shreds.

No way to protect the people she loved above everything else.

As she crossed into the park and skidded down the gravel path to the first set of tents, where a small group of children were screaming and sobbing as they were cornered by a quartet of red-coated Academia Duelists, she remembered the vow she and her friends had made once they'd finally found a way to fight back.

 _Never again._

"Hey," she shouted as she ran forward and tackled into one of the soldiers, who'd been about to card a terrified little girl in pigtails, "why don't you pick on someone your own size, you bastards?!"

The one she'd slammed into went crashing to the ground with a curse, while the other two whirled around to face her.

"Who the hell are you?" one of them demanded.

Scarlett yanked her hood back, exposing her bright hair. "Who do you think?" she said scornfully, then turned to face the little kids. "Stay behind me," she told them. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Ha!" said the first Academia student, scrambling up from the ground. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep!"

She looked right at him, dead serious. "I don't," she said, activating her Duel Disk.

* * *

"Where the hell is your supposedly great and fearless leader?!" Kurosaki demanded as he defeated his fourth Academia opponent. "Shouldn't she have gotten here by now?!"

"This park is large," Miruna said, pausing for a moment to catch her breath. "And the Portum camp is split up all across it. She could already be here and we might not know."

Yukito came running up to them suddenly, Yuya close on his heels.

"Hey, babe," Miruna said in greeting. "And Yuya," she tacked on with an apologetic smile for almost forgetting him. "How're things going with you two?"

"Good so far," Yukito said, panting slightly from exertion. "We met up with Vance and cleared the area around the lower pond; he's evacuating the groups we saved, taking them to that bunker in the Glenn District."

Miruna nodded in acknowledgment. "Good," she said. "Any sign of Scarlett yet?"

"Not yet," Yukito said, shaking his head.

"But Yuto says she should have been here by now," Yuya pitched in.

"And how exactly would Yuto know that?" Kurosaki challenged, arching an eyebrow.

Yuya gave an uneasy smile, clearly uncomfortable. "He tagged along with Skylar for a bit," he said with a slight chuckle, "and saw Scarlett leave to come here."

"So she's probably around somewhere and we just haven't crossed paths yet," Miruna reasoned, speaking before anyone could start asking more questions. "This park is a pretty big place," she said again for good measure, then frowned. "Where the heck did Reiji get off to?"

"Over here," the young man in question said, stepping out of a cluster of trees in an absurdly well-timed arrival. "I've found your friend, by the way," he added, waving a hand back the way he'd come. "At least, I assume it's her, from the red hair and the Lightsworn Deck."

"About damn time," Kurosaki snapped, charging forward and disappearing into the trees.

"Is he always this reckless?" Miruna asked, clearly exasperated.

"Yes," Reiji and Yuya said in unison, a sentiment echoed by Yuto, although only Yuya could hear his agreement.

"He has been better lately," Yuya commented as they broke into a jog in an attempt to follow Kurosaki and catch up to him. "At least, I _think_ he has...it's hard to tell sometimes."

"He's better than before," Yuto acknowledged. "But he's still not like he was before Academia attacked Heartland. I don't know if he'll ever be like that again," he murmured. "It certainly won't happen if we don't rescue Ruri."

"We'll get her back," Yuya promised, not knowing much beyond the fact that Ruri was Kurosaki's sister and someone precious to Yuto. Then again, that was all he really needed to know to want to help her.

It would have to wait for now, though, since none of them knew what Professor Akaba wanted with Yuzu, Ruri, Rin, and Serena or where he was keeping those of them that he had already captured.

Right now, all they could was try and save the people here and now.

* * *

Scarlett took a deep breath, bracing herself for the next round of Dueling.

She'd managed to take down those first three Academia soldiers without too much trouble; unfortunately, they were like roaches, more of them coming out of the woodwork even as she squashed the others. First two more, then another four, then another trio, this time dressed in the yellow of a higher rank.

The kids were still safe, though, huddling down behind her for protection as she fought to keep them safe. And keeping them safe was her top priority. As long as those kids were okay, nothing else mattered. Not that she was tired and her concentration was slipping, not that she'd been at this for what felt like hours.

None of it mattered. What mattered was that someone needed to protect these kids, and she was the only one here right now who could.

She'd made a promise.

 _Never again._

"Which one of you freaks is next?" she demanded, reshuffling her Deck and returning it to her Duel Disk.

"I'll take you on," one of them said, stepping forward. It was a teenage girl with platinum blonde hair and hazel eyes who seemed to be in her late teens, maybe even seventeen like Scarlett was. It was one of the things that messed with her head so much; the people they were fighting were kids like they were. She didn't understand what had turned them into the psychopaths that they were now, but it went against everything she'd once considered right and normal. In another world, another universe, she might have known these kids, gone to school with them. Been friends with them. Logically, she knew that that was impossible, they'd come from another dimension for crying out loud, but in her heart it felt so _wrong_. Wrong that they'd all lost their innocent childhoods to whatever the hell this war was about.

Swallowing hard, she shook her head and re-focused on her opponent. _Come on, Skylar_ , she told herself sternly. _Pay attention. Just keep going a little longer, someone'll be here to back you up soon._ At least, she hoped someone would be. She knew the others had to be somewhere in the Reserve, but there was a lot of ground to cover and plenty of the enemy around to slow her friends down.

"I'll be going first," Scarlett announced, activating her Duel Disk yet again. "You ready?"

The Academia teenager gave a nasty smirk. "Are _you_?" she countered.

 _I sure as hell hope so._

"Duel!" they shouted.

 _ **Scarlett vs. Celia**_

 _ **[8000]-[8000]**_

"My move," Scarlett said, drawing her first card. She went to make her first move, then froze mid-motion as she saw some familiar faces come rushing out of the trees nearby. "You guys are late!" she hollered at her friends, not bothering hide her aggravation.

"Sorry!" Miruna shouted back. "Got hung up. Traffic, you know?"

Rolling her eyes, Scarlett returned her attention to the duel. It took a little of the pressure off, knowing that the others were there in case she lost; they'd be able to protect the children if she couldn't. Because they'd promised, all of them.

 _Never again._

"My move," she repeated, glancing at her new audience out of the corner of her eye one final time. Miruna, Yukito, Kurosaki, Yuya (and Yuto), and Reiji. _Looks like they all made it._ She'd expected nothing less, but it was still a relief to see everyone in one piece.

Of course, now she _definitely_ had to leave her mask on, or else the Lancers would realize her identity; it would be tricky enough already, since she'd had to ditch her goggles after a nasty Solid Vision hit had shattered the lenses and nearly blinded her. Oh well. She'd worry about it later, for now she had a duel to win.

"Are you going to actually make a move," Celia asked in a bored voice, "or just stand there wool-gathering all day?"

Scarlett snapped back into focus. "I'll set two cards face-down down on the field, then summon one monster in face-down defense mode."

"That's it?" Celia said scathingly. "You stood there _thinking_ for so long, I was expecting something a little... _more_."

"I end my turn," Scarlett said curtly.

" _My_ move, then," Celia replied. "Finally." She drew a card. "I'll start by summoning Strike Ninja [1700/1200] in attack mode, and have him attack your face-down monster!"

"Sorry," Scarlett said as her monster flipped face-up, "but my Jenis, Lightsworn Mender has a higher DEF than your monster's ATK, causing _you_ to lose 400 LP."

"Fine," Celia said. "I'll also activate my Fissure Spell Card to destroy your Jenis, Lightsworn Mender. Then I'll set two cards face-down and end my turn."

"I draw," Scarlett said, "summon another monster face-down and end my turn."

"Don't tell me you're going to just play defense the entire time," Celia complained as she took her turn and drew her next card. "I was expecting more from the notorious Scarlett." She snickered. "Aren't you supposed to be fearsome or something?"

"Make your move," Scarlett snapped.

"Don't mind if I do," Celia responded. "I'll start by summoning Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja [1500/1000] in attack mode. Then, I'll attack your face-down monster with my Strike Ninja!"

"And you'll lose 100 LP," Scarlett replied, "because my Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid has a higher DEF than your monster's ATK."

"I'll also activate my Swords of Revealing Light Spell Card," Celia pressed on, "which prevents you from attacking for three turns. With that, I end my turn," she finished.

"And I take mine," Scarlett said, drawing a card. "I Tribute Aurkus to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel [2300/200] in attack mode and-"

"Not so fast!" Celia interrupted. "I activate Solemn Judgment! By giving up half my LP, I can negate your summon!"

 _ **[Celia LP: 3750]**_

"I'll activate my Field Spell," Scarlett continued, gritting her teeth as her monster was destroyed but pushing forward, "Luminous Spark!"

"And I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Field Spell," Celia countered, a vicious smile stretching her lips.

"So I'll activate my Beckoning Light Trap Card instead," Scarlett said in exasperation. "By discarding the cards in my hand, I can select a number of Light monsters in my Graveyard equal to the number of cards I just discarded and add those monsters to my hand." She quickly sent her hand to the Graveyard and selected Jenis and Celestia, returning them to her hand for a second chance. "I end my turn," she said at last.

"I draw," Celia replied. "And summon Armageddon Knight [1400/1200] in attack mode. Then," she went on with a sadistic grin, "I'll attack you directly with all three of my monsters!"

Scarlett bit her lip hard to keep from crying out as the attacks hit, slamming into her and lighting her nerve-endings on fire. It felt like she was being cut by a thousand blades and crushed by a hundred tons of rock, all at once. But then it was over and she could breathe again, even though her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it would pound right out of her chest.

 _Don't you dare pass out,_ she told herself threateningly. _It's been a long day, but it's not over yet. Hang in there, dammit._

 _ **[Scarlett LP: 3400].**_

"I end my turn," Celia said smugly, enunciating each word carefully, a triumphant smirk clear on her face.

"My move," Scarlett said, gasping for air. She could taste blood in her mouth from where she'd bitten her lip too hard. But that was okay; she'd bled worse in the past and would undoubtedly bleed worse in the future. _Just keep on doing your best_ , her mother would have told her. _That's all any of us can do, in the end._

 _Just don't ever give up._

"I draw," Scarlett went on, forcing herself to rally and keep going; those kids were counting on her, and her friends, even if the majority of the Lancers didn't know who she was. She was _not_ going to lose here. "I'll summon one monster face-down in defense mode," she said, "and end my turn."

" _Still_ not going to attack?" Celia asked, sounding aggravated. "What the hell kind of resistance fighter _are_ you?" She hook her head in disgust. "I draw," she said, "and activate Giant Trunade to return all Spells on the field to their owner's hand. Then I'll attack your face-down monster with my Strike Ninja."

"Jenis, Lightsworn Mender's DEF is higher than your monster's ATK," Scarlett said calmly, settling into the uncanny serenity that sometimes swept over her in tight situations, bringing everything into crystal clarity. "You lose LP from your attack."

"I'll end my turn by activating Swords of Revealing Light again," Celia finished. "Your move."

"I draw," Scarlett said, doing so. "Then I'll Tribute Jenis to Summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. And because I sacrificed another Lightsworn monster to summon her, her effect activates, allowing me to destroy two cards in your control as long as I discard four cards from my Deck to the Graveyard. I select your Swords of Revealing Light, along with your other face-down card. Next," she went on, "I'll attack your Strike Ninja with Celestia, destroying your monster and knocking your LP down by 600 points. Finally," she concluded, "I'll set one card face-down and end my turn."

"Way to go, Red!" Yukito shouted, using a nickname she'd rarely heard since their school days. "Nice comeback!"

"My move," Celia snapped, drawing a card. "I'll summon one monster face-down and move my remaining monsters into defense position as well. Then I'll end my turn."

"Now who's on the defensive," Scarlett asked with a smirk, drawing her next card. "My move; I'll summon Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid [1200/1800] in attack mode and have him attack your Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja and destroy it. Then I'll have Celestia attack your Armageddon Knight as well. I end my turn," she finished, "and send two cards to the Graveyard from the Deck because of Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid's effect."

Celia swallowed hard, but drew her next card. "My turn," she said. "I'll summon one monster face-down, set one card, and end my turn."

Scarlett smiled as she took her turn and drew her next card. "I'll tribute Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid," she declared, "to summon a second Celestia, Lightsworn Angel to the field in attack mode. And thanks to Celestia's effect, I can discard four cards from my Deck to the Graveyard in order to destroy the two cards you have on the field!"

"So I'll activate my Dust Tornado before you destroy it," Celia said quickly, frantically swiping at her Duek Disk, "to eliminate your face-down card. I'll also activate the effect of my Sangan that you just destroyed; when Sangan is sent from the field to the Graveyard, I can add a monster with 1500 ATK or less from my Deck to my hand."

"Nice try," Scarlett said with a patronizing smile, "but it's a little too late. You're still wide open for an attack, with not enough LP to outlast both my monsters. So," she said with a bright smile, "let's bring this party to a close, shall we? My two Lightsworn Angels," she called out, and both Celestias responded, readying their staves, "finish her off! Direct attack!"

Celia screamed as the two Angels descended upon her in a bright flash of light; when the air cleared, the Academia soldier had fallen to her knees, eyes wide and face pale, her LP completely wiped out by the last attack.

 _ **Final Score:**_

 _ **[Scarlett: 3400, Celia: 0]**_

Scarlett spared the fallen Duelist only a passing glance, spinning around almost immediately to start shepherding the group of children towards her friends and the Lancers, who were still over by the treeline. "Come on, munchkins," she said, waving them along. "We're going to get you guys someplace safe, okay? Let's go."

"Are you really Scarlett?" one of them asked her, eyes wide as he clutched her hand tightly. "You are, aren't you?"

"My mama told me about you," one little girl said excitedly as she came up on Scarlett's other side. "She told me that you're the one who protects us and scares away the bad guys!"

She gave the girl a warm smile. "Well, I try," she said. "It doesn't always work out, but I do try."

"Your Duels were so awesome!"another little boy said, racing forward so that he could turn around and stare at her as he walked backwards. "Especially that last one! And the way you blew her away with those two super monsters at the end! It was like _whoooooosh_!" he said, flailing his arms around in an adorable reenactment of her final attack.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the show," she said in amusement as Yukito and Miruna hurried over to help her wrangle the kids. "Here, let me introduce you guys to some more super awesome Duelists, okay?"

"Okay!" they all said eagerly.

"This is Yukito," she said, "and his partner Miruna. And these guys," she said, pointing to the Lancers, "are from another dimension."

"Like Academia?" one of the kids asked, looking nervous.

"No," she said firmly. "Not like Academia. They're here to help us, I promise." She slanted the Lancers a warning look. _Don't turn me into a liar,_ she thought. "Anyway," she continued, "this is Yuya Sakaki, Shun Kurosaki, and Reiji Akaba. They're going to take you guys away from here to someplace safe, okay?"

This announcement was met, surprisingly, with a fair bit of argument.

"But we want to stay with you, Scarlett!"

"Yeah, you're the one who kept us safe!"

"Please don't send us away, Scarlett, please don't!"

She found the objections curiously heartwarming, but had no idea what to do about the fact that a small herd of young children seemed determined to trail her around like ducklings now. "Uh..." She glanced at her friends. "A little help here, guys?"

"Come on, kids," Miruna said kindly. "We're going to take you somewhere away from the fighting; that sounds good, right?"

"Yeah," a boy said reluctantly. "But what about Scarlett? We wanna stay with Scarlett!"

"Sorry, sweetie," Miruna said sympathetically. "But Scarlett has a lot of work to do."

"But my friend Skylar," Scarlett said on impulse, ignoring the warning looks that Yukito and Yuya were shooting her, "will keep you company for me, okay? She runs the Fristad boardinghouse, and I bet I can convince her to take in a few cuties such as yourselves." She winked at them.

They cheered, bouncing up and down, their faces so innocent and eager that it made her heart hurt.

God, they reminded her _so_ much of Hayato. Too much. Looking at them brought back memories of happier days, of back when all she'd been worried about was passing her classes, doing her chores, and being a decent role model to her younger host sibling, who'd come to Summerland City as a member of the same exchange program that had brought Yukito to their school. Those days had been warm and happy and full of fun times. Playing card games after school, getting grounded for staying up late to watch cartoons, teasing each other over who had the worst bedhead in the morning...

It had all been so perfect.

And then it had all fallen apart.

 _I'm so sorry, little brother_ , she thought, swallowing past the hard lump in her throat as those happy memories were swallowed up by other, darker recollections. Running, searching, screaming. Not getting there in time. Not knowing what exactly had happened, only knowing that he was gone, and she didn't know what to do other than just keep putting one foot in front of the other and hope that someday she'd find out the truth.

 _I'm sorry._

 _I couldn't save you._

 _But I swear... I **swear** , I won't let it happen to anyone else, not again. _

_Never again_.


	18. Chapter 18: Motivations

**Chapter 18: Motivations**

Scarlett managed to, somehow, get away from her friends and the Lancers before Kurosaki cornered her to pester her about the resistance. It took some doing and she probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off had there not suddenly been a group of rambunctious children for everyone to keep an eye on, but in the end she extricated herself and made it back to the boardinghouse and changed back into her disguise before they others showed up with the kids in tow.

"They're coming in through the lobby now," Yuto informed her just as she was slipping her contacts back in, his phantom form materializing somewhat hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure if he should pop in while she was still changing over.

"Thanks for the heads up," she said gratefully, blinking a couple times to settle the contacts before yanking her baggy sweatshirt back on over her tank top. Then she headed for her bedroom door, only to pause before opening it and leaving. After a moment of chewing on her lip in silence, she turned around to look right at Yuto. "Did I do the right thing?" she asked uncertainly. "Having those kids come back here with us?"

Yuto looked faintly surprised. "Do you regret it?"

"Not really," she said, then sighed. "Not yet," she amended.

"Not yet?" he repeated questioningly.

"I just...it's dangerous here," Skylar said, frowning a bit. "I try to make it safe, make it a place where people can come for shelter, but it's not an exaggeration to say that Academia could find us and wipe us out at any moment. I don't...I don't want to bring those kids here and tell them it's safe only for things to go belly up..." She ran her hands nervously through the long strands of her wig. "I'm not making any sense, am I? Ugh."

"No," Yuto said slowly, looking at her intently before glancing over at the single framed photograph sitting on her bedside table. "I think what you're saying makes sense...if you're trying hard not to lose anyone else."

She froze. "What makes you think I've lost someone?"

He fixed her in a severe state. "I'm not an idiot, Skylar. Or Scarlett, whatever your name really is. Everyone's lost someone. Who was it?"

She narrowed her gaze at him. "I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Who was it?" he demanded, gray eyes stormy.

"None of your business," she snapped, going over to the table and moving to slam the photo down. She couldn't follow through with it, though...the smiling faces of her mother and Hayato were looking up at her from the frame, along with a different Skylar, one whose natural red hair was long and held back by a blue ribbon that matched her school uniform. She couldn't bring herself to hide that picture, that snapshot of what life had been like before.

"Who was it?" Yuto asked again, his voice softer now.

"My mother," she said, throat tight as she touched one fingertip lightly to the glass by her mother's face. "And my brother." She didn't bother explaining that he wasn't her brother by blood, but rather her host sibling; to her, and to Hayato, that distinction had never mattered. They were family, and that was that.

 _Skylar-nee-chan, come play with me!_

 _Hey, nee-chan, if I win the next round, will you take me for ice cream?_

 _Skylar-nee-chan! We'll be together forever, right?_

Her fingers tightened almost painfully around the picture frame, and it suddenly felt like she was having trouble breathing. _Hayato..._

"I'm sorry," Yuto said, and it was clear from the sympathy and pain in his voice that he really was.

"My brother might still be alive," she whispered, heart twisting painfully in her chest. "He and some others got taken away by a group of Academia soldiers, these guys wearing black uniforms. I don't know where they took him and the other kids that they grabbed...I heard some rumors later that they carded everyone they'd taken, but until I know for sure..." She swallowed hard, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I'm not giving up. I'm out of leads right now, but until I know for sure...I'm not going to stop hoping that he might still be out there somewhere."

"I understand," Yuto said, his voice so quiet that it was almost inaudible. "I'm sorry for asking."

She waved away his apology. "It's fine," she said, swiping at her tears almost angrily. "I don't talk about it much. No one but my friends even know I have a brother...They're the only ones who knew me from..."

"Before Academia," Yuto filled in, then glanced at her closed door. "The others are coming to tell you about your new residents now," he informed her, a faint smile crossing his face as he started to disappear. "Oh, one more thing..." he added before he vanished completely. "I think you did the right thing, bringing those kids here."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. "If they've got someone like you looking after them, I think they'll be just fine."

She gave a small, sad smile. "Thanks."

* * *

A couple hours later, once Skylar pretended to be surprised but accepting of her new "guests" and gotten everyone settled into their new accommodations, she finally succeeded in grabbing Yuya and bringing him to see Yugo as she and her friends had promised.

"Yuya!" Yugo exclaimed joyfully when he saw his Standard counterpart. "You really are here! Miruna told me that you were, and I wanted to go see you, but then Miruna said I couldn't because of my injuries. And then Yukito slipped something into my water," he added with a faint scowl. "And I woke up to find out that I've been asleep for over ten hours! Can you believe that? Ten hours!"

"You needed to rest," Yukito said unapologetically, entering into the room just after Skylar and Yuya, a plate with some stale bread and an MRE on it held in his hands. "The alternative was to let you run all over creation on a sprained knee with a broken arm and cracked ribs. Since my girlfriend spent hours patching you up the first time and is obsessively worried about your recovery, I made an executive decision to dump a little melatonin powder into your drink."

"You drugged me?" Yugo demanded, looking outraged.

"For your own good," Yukito retorted, yanking open the MRE and pouring it onto the plate for Yugo. "And also for mine, because all I hear lately when I ask Miruna how her day was is 'Oh, and Yugo's doing so much better! I just wish he'd take things a little more slowly!'. I can understand being in a hurry to get better and get back into the thick of things," he added more seriously, "but you really do need to take the time to let yourself properly heal."

Yugo continued to glare at his Null counterpart, then relented with an angry huff. "Fine," he grumbled. "I'll try and not overdo it." He glanced at the food he was being handed and scowled. " _Now_ what the hell are you trying to feed me?"

"Well," Yukito replied, his tone one of casual disinterest as he flipped over the empty container and read the back, "at some point it was some sort of spaghetti and meat sauce meal. But it's been in that package for who knows how long; it could very well have morphed into a sentient life form by now. But _bon appétit_ anyway. Just warn me if you feel a sudden need to hurl, so I have time to move out of the danger zone"

Yugo's glare came back full force. "You...!"

Skylar had to take a couple steps back and slap a hand over her mouth to muffle her snickers; it was astoundingly amusing, watching Yukito and Yugo interact. They were always fluctuating back and forth between casual animosity and budding friendship; the bickering was, of course, endlessly entertaining, except perhaps for Miruna who was having to put up with it for hours at a time.

Yuya, thankfully, stepped in before the argument between the Synchro and Null counterparts could escalate beyond the stage it was at now, and Yugo and Yukito both subsided into silence as Yuya filled everyone in on his latest adventures, starting from his duel against someone named Jack and ending with how he'd would up in the Null Dimension with Reiji, Reira, and Kurosaki. Yugo went on to ask questions that made little sense to Skylar, questions about Yuya's friend Yuzu, some guy named Crow, some other person named Sora, and a few other things or places that she had absolutely no clue about; she tuned out about half the conversation, focusing instead on tidying up Yugo's room a bit as the biker ate his lunch and chatted animatedly with his friends.

She was about to interrupt their conversation to ask where exactly Miruna had gotten off to, since generally she liked to check Yugo's vitals before his meals, but before she had a chance to voice her inquiry, a young woman in an dark coat embroidered with the infinity symbol of Inifnitas came rushing into the room.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt you," she gasped out, her dirty blonde hair falling into her face as she bent over to catch her breath. "But Giovanni wanted me to bring you the report right away."

Skylar set down the trash can she'd been about to empty and crossed the room to the messenger's side, taking note of how Reiji Akaba and his baby brother had inconspicuously trailed after the new arrival and entered into the room as well. "What report?" she asked the messenger.

"You asked for Giovanni to keep an eye out," the woman panted, "for that strange motorcycle thing that _he_ ," she flailed a hand in Yugo's general direction, "had with him when Scarlett saved him from those Academia goons."

Yugo bolted up in bed, a look of excitement lighting up his face. "My D-Wheel!" he exclaimed. "You've found it?!"

The messenger made a so-so motion with her hand. "Kind of," she said reluctantly, before turning back to Skylar. "You're not going to like it," she said hesitantly.

"Tell us anyway," Skylar replied, crossing her arms.

"At first we thought some regular scavengers had found it and taken it," the woman replied, "but then a scout reported in, and it looks like it's in the hands of the Fire Viper Syndicate."

"The who?" Yuya blurted out.

"The Fire Viper Syndicate," Yukito repeated with a fierce scowl.

"And who the hell are they?" Kurosaki demanded, coming into the room along with Miruna, who had (judging from the items in his arms) apparently shanghaied him into carrying some heavy boxes of medical supplies for her.

"They're a duel gang," Skylar explained, sighing. "They don't usually cause much trouble, but they do hold illegal duel tournaments from time to time, using loot they've stolen from others as the grand prize."

"Which I assume is what they're doing this time as well?" Reiji remarked, glancing to the messenger for confirmation.

The woman nodded. "They're holding a new tournament," she informed them. "It starts in a week. Sixteen participants will be allowed to duel for the right to go home with the-" She looked over at Yugo. "What did you call it?"

"It's a D-Wheel," he replied. " _My_ D-Wheel."

"With the D-Wheel," she finished.

"So we have to compete to get back something that's technically already ours?" Yuya complained. "That's so stupid."

"Welcome to life after the end of the world," Yukito said dryly, before turning to face Skylar. "Normally, I'd say to hell with their tournament and vote to stay out of it, but..."

"My D-Wheel!" Yugo said indignantly.

"It is technically our fault it got taken," Miruna noted, sending Skylar a somewhat apologetic look.

"Because it was a choice between Yugo and the D-Wheel," Skylar grumbled under her breath. Then she shook her head. "Okay, fine. We'll try and win the silly dueling motorcycle back. We'll need to decide who'll participate in the tournament, though, and we'll need to make up our minds quickly; registration for tournaments hosted by the Syndicate doesn't last long."

"Well, Skylar's going obviously," Miruna replied. "Yuki and I will enter as well, and I know Irina will want a piece of this action, too."

"So that's four so far," Skylar said. "Anyone else interested?"

"I'll sign up, too!" Yuya said eagerly. "I want to help get Yugo's D-Wheel back, to pay him back for all the help he gave us in the Synchro Dimension."

"I'll enter as well," Kurosaki offered unexpectedly. "With all six of us entered, the odds of someone on our side getting to the end and winning the D-Wheel go up."

"Yeah," Yuya said eagerly. "With us we've got, what, a fifty-fifty shot at winning the whole tournament?"

"More like a thirty-seven point five chance of it," Irina remarked as she finally joined them. "But who's counting."

Skylar rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Miss Optimism."

Irina just shrugged. "I'm not saying the odds are bad," she replied. "Just that they're not, you know, a shoe-in."

"We've had worse odds before," Skylar pointed out, then turned back to the messenger. "Okay, report back to Giovanni and let him know that we're planning to enter the Syndicate's tournament to win back Yugo's D-Wheel."

"Yes, ma'am."


	19. Chapter 19: No Turning Back

_A/N: Okay, wow, I am sorry about the extreme delay in posting this chapter. Really, I am so sorry, I got sidetracked by work and health issues and some other fics I've been working on, please forgive me!_

 _So, in regards to the story...there was a bit of a time skip in-universe between the last chapter and this one, mostly because there's noting really plot relevant that happens during those missing moments. Anyway, This chapter takes place about a week after the last one, meaning that our Infinitas crew has been spending more time with the Lancers, and that the Viper tournament is now right around the corner. Enjoy!_

 _[Also, just a quick reminder to everyone that this fic is definitely an AU/canon divergence story. So if you see something that doesn't mesh with the canon continuity of Arc-V (say, for example, how long ago Academia attacked the Xyz dimension), it's not a mistake on my part, but rather something I did deliberately. On a similar note, most if not all of the little things that everyone is wondering/asking about will be addressed/explained...eventually. In the meantime, we have more mysteries to pile onto the situation! XD Have fun! ;D]_

* * *

 **Chapter 19: No Going Back**

* * *

"This is a bad idea," Yuto remarked.

Skylar ground her teeth. "Yes," she said testily. "I know it is, I heard you the first twenty-six times you told me so."

The phantom trailing along at her side shot her an exasperated look. "And yet you're not actually _listening_. You could have at least brought Yuya or Shun or one of your other friends along for this."

"Yeah," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Because helping me investigate an anonymous letter that someone slipped under my door is definitely what they should be wasting their time on when the first round of the tournament is tomorrow."

"By that same logic," he replied, " _you_ shouldn't be worrying about this right now, either. Didn't you promise to get Yugo's D-Wheel back for him? Since it was your fault it got taken by those duel gang scavengers in the first place?"

"Shhh!" she said, flailing at him. "No one but Irina is supposed to know that!"

"Why are you shushing me?" Yuto asked. "It's not like anyone other than you and Yuya can even hear me unless I'm _trying_ to be heard. Besides," he added with a faint smirk, "it's not hard to figure it out. When Irina was talking to Yugo the other day, she said that Scarlett had needed to decide between saving Yugo and grabbing the D-Wheel and that she'd, obviously, chosen Yugo. But since _you're_ actually Scarlett, that means that _you're_ the one who left behind Yugo's most precious possession."

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" Skylar demanded. "Because I'm already managing that quite well on my own, thank you."

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty," he answered, shaking his head. "Really. You saved his life, that's what's important. All I'm saying is that I'm surprised that you're taking the time to investigate this ridiculous letter when for the last six days all you've been talking about is needing to get ready for the tournament."

"Well," Skylar said after a moment of contemplative silence, "I don't think there's much more I _can_ do to get myself ready. In a normal situation, I would be adjusting my Deck, finding new cards to optimize my strategies, but..."

"But?"

She shrugged. "But my situation isn't normal, is it? I'm entered into the tournament as Skylar, so I'll be using my Naturia Deck, unless something unexpectedly dramatic happens and I'm outed as the leader of Infinitas. My Naturia Deck, while not the best Deck out there, works well for me and I know how to win with it. Usually," she amended, then gave a slight sigh. "Also, honestly? Even if I wanted to add new cards to my Deck, I couldn't. Cards are a hot commodity ever since Academia invaded two years ago; I'd need to work really hard to find anything truly impressive, and even if by some miracle I _did_ find something, I'd likely need to barter a week's worth of rations for it. And I really can't justify that sort of expenditure, not when we're struggling to make ends meet already."

"Two _years?_ " Yuto asked in disbelief after he took a moment to absorb everything she'd said. "Academia attacked you _two years ago_?"

"Uh, yeah?" She slanted him a puzzled look. "Did you not know that?"

He shook his head. "No. I always assumed that they attacked your dimension around the same time that they attacked mine."

"And that was...relatively recently, yeah?"

He nodded. "Feels like forever ago, but yeah, it happened within the last year."

"Huh." She chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "Well, they definitely attacked us way before that; I remember it vividly. Which means...that they hit us first and then moved on to you guys in Xyz? That's weird. Why come after us losers in Null first? It's not like we were even remotely a threat to them."

"Maybe they were looking for something?" Yuto offered, looking as baffled as she felt.

"Maybe," Skylar allowed, thinking it over. "It might explain why they're still around, if they haven't found it yet." She made a clicking sound with her tongue. "Although if they're so serious about finding whatever it is, why not send all their best soldiers at once to wipe us out? If they'd done that from the start, this whole mess would already be long over."

"It _is_ strange," Yuto agreed.

"Oh well," Skylar said with a sigh. "I'll add it to my ever-growing list of questions. For now, though, let's focus on _this_ business." She pulled a crinkled piece of paper out of her pocket and regarded it with two parts wariness and one part befuddlement.

She'd found it by her door this morning, slipped in through the crack by whoever had left it.

 _To S. Emerson_ , it read.

 _You may consider yourself a warrior now, but believe me when I say that you are about to be embroiled in a fight the likes of which has never been seen in this world._

 _You will need new tactics and new powers to survive the coming storm; if you remain as you are now, everything and everyone you love will be swept away in the approaching darkness._

 _If you wish to truly fight unto eternity for what you believe in, meet me at the Kalachakra clock tower at sunset today._

 _We will see if you truly are your father's daughter._

 _D._

The letter was, by default, incredibly mysterious. _And_ suspicious. One on hand, whoever it was knew her last name, and yet hadn't spelled out her first same, just leaving the S. So did this person know her surname but not her given name, or were they leaving off the rest as a reference to her two S names, Skylar and Scarlett? She couldn't be sure, but the idea of someone she didn't know being privy to her dual identity made her nervous. And that "fight unto eternity" remark, too...That was her Infinitas oath, almost word for word; another indication that this person knew who she _really_ was.

Not to mention that bit about her father at the end, which frankly just left her utterly at a loss. Skylar hadn't even _known_ her father; he'd died in a car accident when she'd been just a baby. She knew that his name was David Emerson, that he'd proposed to her mother underneath a rainbow, and that her mother hadn't kept any pictures of him after his death. And to top it off, her mother had never spoken much of him, either, leaving Skylar with a total lack of knowledge where her paternal figure was concerned.

So, yeah, she didn't know what that "if you're your father's daughter" bit was about; she had no idea who her father had been to begin with, so as challenges went it fell rather flat.

The rest of it, though...it unnerved her. All the talk of fights and tactics and new powers had made something seize up inside her, some sort of instinctive alarm bell that made her want to burn the letter and pretend she'd never seen it.

Some part of her, deep down, understood that if she went through with this and met this mystery person, there was no going back. If she took this step forward into whatever was waiting out there, that was it. No take-backs.

The rest of her laughed at that idea, and thought that she was being superstitious and overcautious and silly.

The trepidation lingered, though, despite her best attempts to convince herself that this letter business was just some jerk playing pranks.

And so she'd, somewhat reluctantly and with no small amount of embarrassment, asked Yuto to accompany her. He'd managed to extend the metaphysical tether that bound him to Yuya within the last week, allowing him to go farther away from his Standard counterpart than before, and even though he wasn't good _physical_ back-up, his presence alone was reassuring to her, for the company if nothing else. The Kalachakra clock tower was a good five and a half miles away from Fristad, but some experimenting in the past few days had led them to conclude that Yuto currently had an independent travel distance of roughly six and a quarter miles, so he'd be able to stay with her the entire time, assuming that their mysterious letter-writer didn't lead them on a chase across the city.

"What's your plan for confronting them?" Yuto asked as they approached the tall Gothic spire, the decorative gargoyles ominous in the fading light, their stone faces hideous and intimidating in the shadows cast by the setting sun.

"I was thinking I'd opt for the direct approach," Skylar remarked lightly, activating her Duel Disk almost absentmindedly; it was second nature to activate it whenever she was entering into an uncertain situation now, a habit born from being caught by surprise a time too many. "Ask them who the hell they are and what the hell they want from me."

Yuto rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

She walked into the courtyard at the base of the clock tower, Yuto trailing along silently behind her like the phantom he was.

"So you came after all," a deep voice said, the sound so sudden in the serene quiet of the courtyard that it made her jump.

She whirled around, heart pounding as she searched for the source of the voice. After a pulse-racing moment of squinting in the dim twilight lighting, she spotted it. Or rather, _him_.

A tall figure in a long black hooded cloak, the hood itself so deep that she could barely make out the outline of the speaker's jaw. She wasn't left to wonder about his appearance for long, though, because a moment later he tossed the hood back, revealing a man with stark white hair and piercing silver-blue eyes. He looked to be maybe in his early twenties, but the weight of knowledge in his eyes...it took her breath away, and left her with the absolutely certainty that whoever this guy was, he certainly wasn't twenty.

No, the vibe he was giving off made her pretty positive that was he was way, _way_ older than that. Or had at least seen things that had aged his soul considerably.

"Skylar Emerson," the stranger said, his deep voice somewhat at odds with his youthful appearance; she would have expected that rumbling baritone from a visibly older man, the kind with a thick beard and wrinkles around his eyes. "Or should I call you Scarlett?"

She tensed, and Yuto beside her narrowed his eyes at the stranger, pinning the white-haired man in an intense stare that only Skylar was aware of. "I don't know you," she told the man, swallowing hard and trying to keep her voice steady.

"No," he agreed. "You don't. Not yet." He seemed to regard her intently for a moment, and his gaze was like a laser beam, shooting straight through her. "I knew your father, David," he said at last, and she saw something that might have been grief in his face, before it returned to being blank and expressionless. "He was a good man. I am hoping," he went on, "that you are at least half as promising as he was."

She bristled a bit at that; his tone certainly indicated that he thought she was lacking in some way, and that rubbed her the wrong way to be sure. "I'm sorry," she snapped irritably, "who the hell are you again? And why should I care what you think of me? Because," she went on, not pausing to let him answer, "I would like to point out that _you_ invited _me_ here. And by _invite,_ " she added scathingly, "I mean left a note full of gibberish and vague statements. I have an important duel tomorrow," she finished, "and I should be prepping with my friends, not hauling my ass miles across the city to meet some person I've never seen before in my life."

He continued to stare at her, letting silence fall between them as the echo of her words died. Then, he smiled. Very, very faintly, but it was there. "My name is Durai," he told her. "I could also tell you that I am the leader of the Nexus Knights, but you would not know to what I am referring, would you?"

She looked at him blankly. "The what-Knights?" she blurted, apparently proving him correct.

Durai just shook his head. "There is much to tell you, and not enough time to even scratch surface of it right now. So we'll have to skip ahead, and have a proper conversation at a later date." He threw back his cloak, exposing an activated Duel Disk upon his arm. "Duel me, Skylar Emerson, daughter of David. Duel me, and we shall see if you are what I hope you are."

"I don't know if I like this," Yuto muttered, stormy eyes focused entirely upon Durai. "I don't know who or what this guy is, but he's definitely not from around here. Maybe we should just leave."

She briefly considered it, but then the uncanny feeling from before came back, ten times as strong. "I don't think we _can_ just leave," she said slowly, and she could feel her own words settle down over her with a solid sensation of certainty.

Whatever was happening here, there was no going back.

"Well," Durai said, "shall we begin?"


	20. Chapter 20: Expectations

_A/N: Ahhhhh, it's been literally forever since I updated this, I am SO sorry! Life got a little hectic not long after the last update, and I just wasn't able to keep up with this story and Inevitable (and Echoes of Remembrance) at the same time. Thankfully, Inevitable is finished now (at a hundred chapters, no less!) and while I am still very busy with my other fics, my originals WIPs, and some freelance work, I've decided to return to this story and resume updates! This sudden fervor on my part is, admittedly, partially driven by the ending of the Arc-V anime and my dissatisfaction with it. XD So..._

 _Welcome back! Hope you've all been doing well. This chapter picks up right where we left off last time, with Skylar and Durai about to duel. Also, I'm trying out a few new things as far as formatting during duels goes; it gets tiresome to type in every single increase or decrease in atk/def during the dialogue, so from time to time I'll just be adding in the change in a bracket-insert type thing. Let me know if this works/doesn't work for you. ;D_

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Expectations**

* * *

"Well," Durai said, "shall we begin?"

"Sure," Skylar replied, ignoring Yuto's warning look. "Let's do this."

"Duel!" they said in unison.

 _ **Skylar vs. Durai**_

 _ **[8000]-[8000]**_

"I'll go first, if you don't mind," Durai said, drawing a card.

"Whatever floats your boat," Skylar responded evenly, trying to stifle the nervous jitters in her stomach.

"I will summon one monster in face-down defense mode, and then activate Heart of the Underdog, which lets me draw one more card on my turn if I draw a Normal Monster. Then I'll set two more cards and end my turn."

"My move, then," Skylar said, drawing her card. "I'll start by setting one card, and then summon Naturia Cliff [1500/1000] in attack mode and equip him with my Invigoration Spell card."

 _[Naturia Cliff: ATK+400, DEF-200=1900/800]._

"Next," Skylar went on, "I'll have my Naturia Cliff attack your face-down monster."

"My Chamberlain of the Six Samurai has a DEF of 2000," Durai inserted smoothly, "meaning that you take 100 points of damage from your attack."

Skylar barely even felt the deduction in her LP, she was so focused on the Six Samurai monster.

Hayato had run a Six Samurai Deck.

 _Skylar-nee-chan, look, look! I've got almost all of them now! I just need Kagemusha and Kizan!_

 _You're going to duel me after school today, right? You promised_!

 _Aww, nee-chan, don't make that face! I'll let you win next time, okay?_

"See something of interest?" Durai asked, and it was clear from the sharp edge in his voice that he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking of. "How can you expect to beat your enemies and protect your friends if something like _this_ ," he gestured to his Samurai monster, "is all it takes to distract your focus?"

Skylar abruptly found herself incredibly angry. Who was he, this Durai, to speak of her loss as if it were nothing more than a trivial distraction? What did he know of her, or her brother, or what all of them had been through since the invasion? "Don't you stand there and pretend to understand me," she snarled at him, fury and grief twisting in her chest like a wrathful serpent. "You don't know _anything_."

And still Durai watched her with those bottomless eyes, his expression so distant it was like looking at an emotionless glacier on the far horizon. "So show me, then," he said, his tone challenging. "Show me what you're made of, Skylar Emerson!"

She swallowed hard, glanced down at the cards in her hand, and shook her head. "I end my turn."

Durai's brows drew down into a faint scowl, but he said nothing else.

"Your move," she prompted after the silence began to stretch on uncomfortably.

"It is," Durai agreed, and finally drew his next card. "I shall summon Mad Lobster [1700/200] in attack mode and move my Chamberlain of the Six Samurai into attack mode as well. Then, I'll activate my Continuous Trap Card, Attack of the Cornered Rat, which allows me to pay 1900 LP in order to reduce the ATK of your monster by the same amount. Then, I'll attack you with my Mad Lobster, destroying your Naturia Cliff, whose ATK is now 0, and depleting your Life Points by 1700!"

Skylar reacted badly to the attack, her heart pounding in her chest as she gasped for air. She still wasn't going to go down without a fight, though. Not now, not ever. "That the best you got?" she challenged. "I activate Naturia Cliff's effect, which allows me to Special Summon Naturia Spiderfang [2100/400] in attack mode." It wasn't much, but at least it kept Durai from attacking her with his Chamberlain.

And sure enough, Durai had no more moves up his sleeve. Right now, at least. "I end my turn."

 _[Skylar: 6200, Durai: 6100]._

"I draw," Skylar replied, "and activate the Field Spell Gaia Power. Next, I'll summon Naturia Guardian in attack mode. Then I'll activate Plant Food Chain and equip it to my Guardian, raising his ATK to 2600. Then I'll have him attack your Chamberlain!"

"I activate Justi-Break," Durai said immediately, "which destroys all monsters on the field except for Attack Position Normal Monsters."

Skylar cursed as her two monsters were wiped out, leaving only Durai's monsters on the field. "I end my turn," she said sourly, starting to feel the first nigglings of real worry. Durai was countering her moves easily, with no apparent effort or concern. Was he really that good, or was she just not as good as she'd thought?

"My turn," the mysterious man in question said, drawing his card. "I'll draw one more card thanks to Heart of the Underdog," he informed her, and did so. "Then I'll summon Giant Soldier of Stone in attack mode; his stats become [1800/1600] because of your Gaia Power Field Spell. Then I'll attack you directly with all three of my monsters!"

Skylar tried to brace herself for the attacks, but there was no real way to prepare for getting totally bowled over by a Giant Soldier of Stone, a Chamberlain of the Six Samurai, _and_ a Mad Lobster. So instead of standing tall and defiant as she'd intended, she instead went sailing through the air to crash into a very solid wrought iron fence that actually caved outwards from how strongly she slammed into it.

 _[Skylar LP: 2000]_

"Skylar!" Yuto shouted, his voice faint-sounding through the ringing in her ears.

She made a vague waving gesture in his general direction, likewise ignoring the sharp look Durai angled her way as she did so. "It'll take more than this to keep me down," she told them both, and struggled back to her feet, returning to where she'd been standing a moment before.

Durai just looked at her with that unreadable expression back on his face again; he was so expressionless it made her want to scream at him just to get a response. "You're in pain," he said to her after a moment of tense silence.

"I've had worse," she replied honestly, mentally closing the door on the sharp stabbing pains that were cascading along her back and shoulders; she was pretty sure that nothing was fatally damaged, and that was all she cared about. So long as she could still stand, she could still fight. And that was all that mattered her.

"I'll activate Non-Spellcaster Area," Durai said, proceeding with his turn, either taking her at her word or deciding that it didn't matter one way or the other. "It makes all face-up monsters immune to Spell Cards. Including," he added with a barely-there smirk, "your Field Spell Gaia Power, meaning that all Earth-type monsters' ATK stats return to normal. With that," he finished, "I end my turn."

"Skylar," Yuto said, appearing right by her side as she took her turn and drew her next card, "it's not too late. You can still surrender. Just leave, before you get really hurt."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "I can't just quit," she muttered under her breath, low enough so that Durai couldn't hear.

"So you'd rather stay and get seriously injured?" Yuto demanded. "Skylar, this is no joke; that last attack could have killed you!"

"But it didn't," she countered, taking a moment to look right at him, not caring what Durai might make of her interacting with what would seem to be an empty pocket of evening air. "I'm fine, and I can keep fighting. So that's what I'm going to do."

Yuto made a frustrated noise. "You're being an idiot," he told her angrily.

" _That_ ," Skylar said wryly, "I agree with completely. But it's too late to turn back now. Win or lose, I'm in this until the end." She returned her attention back to Durai and the duel. "I'll set one monster in face-down defense mode," she told her opponent, "and then activate Monster Reborn to bring back Naturia Cliff, also in defense mode. Then I end my turn."

"On the defensive, Skylar Emerson?" Durai remarked, arching a single pale eyebrow. "So soon?" He shook his head. "I must admit, I expected more from someone with your legacy."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she told him curtly, "and all your vague cryptic statements are beginning to get on my nerves. So do me a favor, okay? Just shut up and duel."

That seemed to amuse him, a small smile curving his lips as his silver-blue eyes seemed to almost glow with an emotion she couldn't name. "As you wish," he replied, drawing his next card. "I will set one monster in face-down defense mode, and then destroy your Naturia Cliff with my Giant Soldier of Stone."

"And I'll activate Cliff's effect to Special Summon Naturia Cosmos Beet to the field in attack mode," she countered, swiftly snatching the monster in question out of her Graveyard and returning it to the field.

"And I'll destroy that monster with my Mad Lobster," Durai continued on relentlessly.

Skylar clenched her hands into fists as her last monster was obliterated and her LP took another hit.

 _[Skylar LP: 1800]_

"Finally," Durai said, I'll move my Chamberlain of the Six Samurai into defense mode and end my turn."

Puzzled by the shift of battle position when he could have knocked her down some more with his Chamberlain, she gave Durai a confused look, but drew her next card anyway. "My move," she said slowly, trying to get her head back in the game and make some sort of comeback. Unfortunately, nothing she had at her disposal was going to be of much use right now. "I'll set one card, summon one monster in face-down defense mode...and end my turn."

Durai smiled.

 _I'm going to lose_ , she realized suddenly, and the realization was like a bucket of ice water dumped over her head. She hadn't lost a duel in...she couldn't even remember how long it had been. Things had certainly gotten distressingly close a few times, and there had been a couple occasions where she definitely would have lost had back-up not arrived at precisely the right moment.

But an outright loss, when she was supposed to the strong backbone of the resistance?

It was enough to made her feel like a lost little child again, looking around and wondering what it was she supposed to be doing and why wasn't there a grown-up around to tell her what was right and wrong. She hadn't felt so small in a very long time.

"My turn," Durai said, that enigmatic smile on his face not wavering in the slightest. "I draw, and flip-summon the Sonic Duck [1700/700] I had face-down. Next, I'll attack and destroy your two face-down monsters with my Mad Lobster and Sonic Duck."

Skylar swallowed as her last line of defense was wiped out. "I activate the effect of my last Naturia Cliff," she said shakily, "to summon Naturia Rosewhip [400/1700] to the field." Although she wasn't sure why she even bothered; it was clear who the winner of this duel would be, and it wasn't going to be her.

She still couldn't bring herself to just surrender, though; every time the thought crossed her mind, she instinctively rejected it, vehemently so.

Durai, meanwhile, seemed to be watching her very closely, even as he proceeded with his turn. "Next," he said, "I'll have my Giant Soldier of Stone destroy your Rosewhip, for 400 points of battle damage."

 _[Skylar: 1400]._

"I end my turn," Durai said at last.

Skylar took a deep breath, and drew her next card. "My turn," she said, then couldn't help the sigh that fell from her lips. _Wonderful_ , she thought unhappily. _A Trap Card that I can't use_. Shaking her head, she sent a quickly apology to her Deck for being a whiny ungrateful brat. _This one's on me_ , she told her cards. _Sorry._ Her Deck hadn't let her down, not really; rather, she'd gotten distracted and overemotional, and had let herself be played right to where Durai wanted her. _She'd_ let _her Deck_ down. Normally she and her cards were pretty in sync, but this time...she'd gotten derailed by her anger and her grief, and it had cost her.

 _Oh well_. She still wasn't going to surrender. "I set one card," she said, resigned to what was coming but determined to face her loss with dignity, "and end my turn."

"You're still not going to give up," Durai observed, looking faintly startled and just a little bit impressed. "Even though it's clear that you're going to lose."

"That you're so surprised by that," Skylar answered calmly, ignoring the nervous racing of her pulse and the strained look on Yuto's face, "confirms what I said before: you know _nothing_ about me."

"Perhaps not," Durai acknowledged quietly, then drew his next card. "My move," he said. "I summon Jerry Beans Man [1750/0] in attack mode, and attack you directly!"

Skylar bit her lip to keep from crying out as the attack sliced right through her and wiped out the rest of her Life Points. _Looks like I lose._

 _ **Final Score:**_

 _ **[Skylar: 0]-[Durai: 6100]**_

Skylar took a moment to assess her physical condition once the holograms in the courtyard dissipated; she was sore all over and would no doubt have some truly spectacular bruises in the coming days, but everything seemed to be in working order. It seemed as though something had softened the physical impact from that last attack; what could have been a fatal ending for her had instead left her battered but still breathing.

"You," Durai said as he came over, "are certainly not what I expected."

She and Yuto both gave him a suspicious side-eye. "And is that a good thing," she asked carefully, "or a bad one?"

Durai regarded her seriously for a moment. "I am not sure," he said at last. "All I know is that you _do_ have potential." He hesitated for a moment, and then drew a card out from a pocket his cloak and held it out to her. "Here," he said, his voice softer now, "take this. You'll need it."

She eyed him warily. "I was raised to not take gifts from strangers," she told him.

To her surprise, he gave a startled laugh, and the sound was ling songbirds in spring. "You were raised well, then," he replied, silver-blue eyes sparkling with mirth, "for all that your father was not there to help with it. I," he went on, "am not a stranger, Skylar. I hope to prove that to you someday, and for you to realize who and what you and your friends truly are, but for now we will take things one step at a time. This card," he said, holding it out to her again, "is important. You will need it, Skylar, sooner rather than later. If you believe nothing else I have told you this day, at least believe that."

"You might as well take it," Yuto offered as she glanced at him questioningly. "He may have lured you out here and trounced you in that duel, but he doesn't _seem_ to be hostile."

She gave a slight snort at that, but didn't comment. Instead, she reached out a hand and took the card.

"Retroactive Nullification," she said, reading out the title with a faint frown. _Nullification, huh?_ Then she glanced down at the card description and her eyes widened in surprise. "This is...!"

 _There is no card like this!_

She jerked her gaze up to Durai.

Or rather, to where Durai had been standing ten seconds previously.

Currently, the mysterious white-haired man was no where to be seen.

He'd completely vanished.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, looking back down at the card in her hand.

 _Retroactive Nullification, huh..._

"Well," she said at last with a sigh, slipping the card into her pocket and heading for the courtyard exit with Yuto's shade trailing along at her side, "this was quite an interesting day, wasn't it? Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us."


End file.
